Children with disabilities are agents of change – UN report

Children with disabilities have the same rights as other children and can be agents of change, a United Nations report has said.
The report, titled: “The state of the world’s children”, and produced by the UN Children’s Fund, noted that children with disabilities are some of the most invisible and marginalised people in the world.
It also cited recommendations on how to actively include children with disabilities in civic, social and cultural affairs so that they and their communities benefit from development initiatives.
The report’s underlying message is that girls and boys with disabilities “are not problems” but sisters, brothers, daughters, sons and friends with favourite foods and songs, dreams and rights.
Eschewing a focus on traditional notions of “rescuing” the child, the report instead spotlighted investment in removing the barriers that impede the realisation of the child’s rights.
The report quoted the Executive Director of UNICEF, Anthony Lake, as saying that the inclusion of children with disabilities in society was possible but that it required a change of perception.
“A recognition that children with disabilities hold the same rights as others, that they can be agents of change and self-determination, not merely the beneficiaries of charity, that their voices must be heard and heeded in our policymaking and programmes,” Lake added.
Among its key recommendations, UNICEF urged countries that have not yet done so to ratify and implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
According to the recommendations, currently 127 countries and the European Union countries have ratified the CRBD.
It explained that the States Parties are required to promote full equality and participation of persons with disabilities in society and that 76 have signed the CRD.
UNICEF said: “Ratification alone will not be enough.
“The process will require effort on the part of national governments, local authorities, employers, disabled people’s organisations and parents’ associations.”
The report stated that discrimination was the root of many of the challenges faced by children with disabilities.
It recommended facilitating access and encouraging the participation of children with disabilities alongside their peers, stressing that for example the use of universal designs that could be found in the form of sidewalk ramps, audio books, Velcro fastenings, cabinets with pull-out shelves, automatic doors and low-floor buses.
It, however, noted that the cost of integrating accessibility into new buildings and infrastructure could amount to less than one per cent of the capital development cost and that adaptations to an already completed structure could reach as much as 20 per cent of the original cost.
Another recommendation is to end the institutionalisation of children with disabilities, starting with a moratorium on new admissions and greater promotion of and increased support for family-based care and community-based rehabilitation.
The report said: “Separating children with disabilities from their families is a violation of their rights to be cared for by their parents unless this is deemed fit by competent authorities to be in the individual child’s best interest.
“Making public services, schools and health systems accessible and responsive to the needs of children with disabilities and their families will reduce the pressure to send children away in the first place.”
It further explained that families caring for children with disabilities often bear higher costs of living and lost opportunities to earn income and thus may increase the risk of becoming or remaining poor.
“Children and young people with disabilities are among the most authoritative sources of information on what they need and whether their needs are being met,” the report noted.
It added that participation was especially important for marginalised groups, such as children with disabilities living in institutions that are more likely to be abused or exploited than those living at home.
The report provided data on children with global and country breakdowns and how they rank on progress towards the universally approved anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals.