State of the World's Children 2013 - Unicef

CHAPTER 2
FUNDAMENTALS OF
INCLUSION
Adopting an approach grounded in respect for the rights,
aspirations and potential of all children can reduce the
vulnerability of children with disabilities to discrimination,
exclusion and abuse.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD) challenge charitable approaches
that regard children with disabilities as passive
recipients of care and protection. Instead, the
Conventions demand recognition of each child
as a full member of her or his family, community
and society. This entails a focus not on traditional
notions of ‘rescuing’ the child, but on investment
in removing the physical, cultural, economic, communication,
mobility and attitudinal barriers that
impede the realization of the child’s rights – including
the right to active involvement in the making
of decisions that affect children’s daily lives.
It is often said that when you change, the world
changes. Underestimation of the abilities of
people with disabilities is a major obstacle to
their inclusion. It exists not only in society at
large but also in the minds of professionals,
politicians and other decision-makers. It can also
occur in families, among peers and in individuals
with a disability, especially in the absence of evidence
that they are valued and supported in their
development. Negative or ill-informed attitudes,
from which stem such deprivations as the lack of
reasonable accommodation for children with
disabilities, remain among the greatest obstacles
to achieving equality of opportunity.
Negative social perceptions may result in children
with disabilities having fewer friends and
being isolated or bullied, their families experiencing
additional stress, and their communities
treating them as outsiders. Early studies
of the way children with disabilities are treated
by their peers have found that even at the preschool
level, they may be overlooked as friends
or playmates, sometimes because other children
believe that they are not interested or able
to play and interact. 4 A survey of families of
children with disabilities in the United Kingdom
found that 70 per cent thought that understanding
and acceptance of disability among their
community was poor or unsatisfactory, and
almost half encountered problems in accessing
such support services as childcare. 5 According
to a 2007 UK study involving children with special
educational needs, 55 per cent said that
they had been treated unfairly because of their
disability. 6 In Madagascar, one study found that
ignorance about disability was common among
parents – and that even among the presidents
of parents’ associations, 48 per cent believed,
mistakenly, that disability is contagious. 7 A
2009 study in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang
reported that although the community adopted
generally tolerant attitudes towards children
with disabilities and their families, instances
of stigmatization and discrimination persisted.
The appearance of children with disabilities in
public on such holidays as Tet, which marks the
new lunar year, was considered detrimental to
good fortune. 8
FUNDAMENTALS OF INCLUSION
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