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http://www.unicef.org/sowc2013/report.html
30 May 2013
The marginalization of children with disabilities in critical areas like health
and education not only has damaging consequences for the young people
themselves but also the wider community, according to a landmark UNICEF report
released today on 30 May.
The State of the World's Children 2013: Children with Disabilities contends
that children with disabilities are the least likely to receive health care or
go to school. They are also more likely to face exploitation and neglect. This
is because, the report suggests, children with disabilities are too often
reduced to that disability and not seen as valuable individuals who should be
given the same opportunities to flourish as everyone else.
"When you see the disability before the child, it is not only wrong for the
child, but it deprives society of all that child has to offer," said UNICEF
Executive Director Anthony Lake. "Their loss is society's loss; their gain is
society's gain."
HIV provides a salient example of how young people with physical, sensory,
intellectual or psychosocial disabilities can be marginalized, overlooked and
excluded from programmes. The report argues that, if the burden of the virus is
increased in any one group this has negative implications for society as a
whole, not least in terms of slowed development and increased expenditure.
Children with disabilities are often considered to be sexually inactive and
thus not in need of HIV prevention services. Many receive no information about
puberty and how their bodies change and develop. There may also be issues with
a greater inability to set sexual contact boundaries for others.
In addition, a significant percentage of people with disabilities of all ages
experience sexual assault or abuse during their lifetimes, especially women and
girls and those in specialized institutions, schools and hospitals. Their
vulnerability to HIV in these circumstances is therefore substantially
increased.
When you see the disability before the child, it is not only wrong for the
child, but it deprives society of all that child has to offer. Their loss is
society's loss; their gain is society's gain.
UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake
HIV treatment, testing and counselling services can be physically difficult to
access for those with disabilities or may not provide information in
user-friendly formats such as Braille. Health care professionals are rarely
trained to deal with such children and adolescents and may even demonstrate
stigmatizing attitudes.
The State of the World's Children sets out a number of recommendations to try
to ensure that children with disabilities are included across a broad range of
social, economic and cultural spheres so that they are involved in overall
development.
One major recommendation involves filling the considerable information gap
relating to children with disabilities. Few countries know how many such
citizens there are, what disabilities they have and what level of service
provision they need, making it very difficult for those needs to be met.
The report also highlights the need to remove barriers to inclusion so that
environments like schools, health facilities and public transport encourage the
participation of children with disabilities alongside their peers, free from
discrimination. Families can also be supported to meet the higher costs of
living and lost income-earning opportunities often associated with caring for
affected children. It is also held to be important to ensure that children and
adolescents are involved in the design and implementation of programmes and
services so that they can play a role as active agents of change.
Finally, the report calls on countries to ratify and implement international
commitments such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Around two thirds
of them have ratified the former but for many implementation remains slow.
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