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Supporting young children with disabilities in humanitarian settings

BEILER, ROSALENGA BERMAN
ZUIDEMA, SUZANNE
BECKERLEGGE, FIONA
RODRIGUEZ GARCIA, DEBORAH MARIE
June 2022

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The rapid growth that occurs in the first years of life provides an opportunity to influence and improve developmental outcomes that may impact the entire course of an individual's life. Addressing the developmental needs of children with disabilities during this critical period is essential if they are to survive, flourish, learn, and be empowered (WHO, n.d.). 

Recognizing the importance of addressing all children's unique needs and acknowledging the influence of social stigma and misconceptions about disability that may lead to underdeveloped potential and social exclusion, we seek to advocate for and support the inclusion of young children with disabilities in Early Childhood Development in Emergencies programming. 

The webinar was moderated by Rosangela Berman Bieler, UNICEF’s Global Advisor on Disability, and included presentations on foundational concepts for disabilities-inclusive programming, and alternatives to address young children with disabilities needs in a resourceful, creative manner. 

Antony Were at Civil Society Policy Forum 2021

HIAIR
March 2021

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Antony Were, who works for Humanity & Inclusion in Kenya, briefly describes his experience as an inclusive teacher in refugee camps and asks panelists how can teachers be better supported to be inclusive teachers, especially during times of crisis like COVID, so that children with disabilities don’t lose out

Être une fille et handicapée en Afrique de l’Ouest : La situation éducative en question : etude pays - Mali

Humanity & Inclusion
October 2020

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Questions de recherche

1 / Dans quelle mesure le handicap — en interrelation avec le genre — influence-t-il les parcours de scolarisation des filles handicapées?

2 / Quelles spécificités liées aux types et au degré de handicap (physique, visuel, auditif, intellectuel) peuvent être observées?

3 / Quelles sont les spécificités liées à l’âge des filles handicapées?

4 / A quels enjeux, notamment en matière de protection de l’enfance, les jeunes filles handicapées sont-elle exposées ?

5 / Quelles spécificités contextuelles émergent dans les trois pays, objet de l’étude et dans les différents terrains d’étude?

6 / Quel rôle joue la religion et les croyances populaires dans l’accentuation des discriminations à l’égard des filles handicapées?

7 / Quels éléments facilitateurs (familiaux/communautaires/institutionnels/politiques/etc.) pour l’éducation des filles handicapées pourraient être identifiés dans les différentes zones d’étude?

Être une fille et handicapée en Afrique de l’Ouest : La situation éducative en question : etude pays - Burkina Faso

Humanity & Inclusion
2020

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Questions de recherche

1 / Dans quelle mesure le handicap — en interrelation avec le genre — influence-t-il les parcours de scolarisation des filles handicapées?

2 / Quelles spécificités liées aux types et au degré de handicap (physique, visuel, auditif, intellectuel) peuvent être observées?

3 / Quelles sont les spécificités liées à l’âge des filles handicapées?

4 / A quels enjeux, notamment en matière de protection de l’enfance, les jeunes filles handicapées sont-elle exposées ?

5 / Quelles spécificités contextuelles émergent dans les trois pays, objet de l’étude et dans les différents terrains d’étude?

6 / Quel rôle joue la religion et les croyances populaires dans l’accentuation des discriminations à l’égard des filles handicapées?

7 / Quels éléments facilitateurs (familiaux/communautaires/institutionnels/politiques/etc.) pour l’éducation des filles handicapées pourraient être identifiés dans les différentes zones d’étude?

Discussion about inclusive education considering IDA report "What an inclusive, equitable, quality education means to us" and Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report 2020

Hosted by: INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY ALLIANCE (IDA)
July 2020

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A discussion of inclusive education based on Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report: "Inclusion and education: All means all. Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report 2020", published Jun 2020 and IDA report:  "What an inclusive, equitable, quality education means to us", published Mar 2020.

Ensuring inclusive education during COVID-19

RICHLER, Diane
TESNI, Sian
McGEOWN, Julia
et al
April 2020

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 Practical recommendations and examples for supporting inclusive education approaches in the COVID-19 response, with a particular focus on supporting children and young people with disabilities are presented

“Disability Is Not Weakness” Discrimination and barriers facing women and girls with disabilities in Afghanistan

GOSSMAN, Patricia
April 2020

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Everyday barriers that Afghan women and girls with disabilities face are described.  Decades of conflict have decimated government institutions and development efforts have failed to reach many communities most in need. Obtaining access to health care, education, and employment, along with other basic rights, is particularly difficult for Afghan women and girls with disabilities, who face both gender discrimination and stigma and barriers associated with their disability.

 

This report is based primarily on research by Human Rights Watch researchers from April 2018 through January 2020 in Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif, and Herat, Afghanistan. 23 interviews with women with disabilities and 3 interviews with family members of women and girls with disabilities were conducted. 14 healthcare and education professionals were interviewed, including representatives from the United Nations and international and local nongovernmental organizations providing services to persons with disabilities in Afghanistan

What an inclusive, equitable, quality education means to us : report of the International Disability Alliance

INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY ALLIANCE (IDA)
March 2020

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This report is the result of a process aimed at building a cross-disability consensus on strategic recommendations to commonly advocate for the realisation of the rights of all learners to quality, inclusive education, including all learners with disabilities.

 

Through three technical workshops, which included exchanges with consultants, education sector stakeholders, inclusive education allies in particular the IDDC Inclusive Education Task Group, global, regional and national level OPDs, a consensus position was developed on how to best achieve SDG4 in compliance with UNCRPD Article 24.

 

The report calls for an inclusive education system where all learners with and without disabilities learn together with their peers in schools and classes in their community schools, receiving the support they need in inclusive facilities.

 

Representatives of four IDA members formed the technical task team to guide the initiative and its framing of inclusive and equitable quality education. The four members are Inclusion International, the International Federation of Hard of Hearing People, the World Blind Union and the World Federation of the Deaf. While this report is endorsed by the Alliance as a whole, examples used in this report reflect a perspective on the commonly agreed position as illustrated by the four IDA member organisations who engaged actively in the technical task team.

Video Storybooks from eKitabu

eKitabu
2020

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eKitabu’s Studio KSL and Studio RSL create Kenyan Sign Language and Rwandan Sign Language videos and video storybooks to support accessible, early grade reading

Kazakhstan: Education Barriers for Children with Disabilities

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
March 2019

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The video reports that most children with disabilities in Kazakhstan are not getting a quality, inclusive education and that although the Kazakh government has taken some important steps to better protect the rights of children with disabilities, much more needs to be done to ensure equal access to education for all children.

Cases of children with Downs Syndrome, autism and arthritis are highlighted.

INCLUDE US! Good practices in the inclusion of persons with disabilities in Myanmar

HUMANITY & INCLUSION (HI)
2018

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In 2015, Humanity & Inclusion HI began the project: “Empowering persons with disabilities to contribute to equal access to basic social services and local policymaking processes in under-resourced areas of Ayeyarwady and Mandalay”. The project supported Disabled Peoples Organizations and other civil society groups to participate in the development of inclusive regional policies and programmes, and to promote good practices contributing to greater access to services for persons with disabilities. An aim was also to document, publish and disseminate these good practices throughout Myanmar, increasing awareness and understanding in order to sensitise people to disability inclusion and influence policy change. Rather than focusing on what is not working, this report seeks to shift attention to what has worked locally and how it could be replicated in other parts of the country, providing constructive, practical recommendations to decision-makers, service providers and other community groups in Myanmar. The report is related to two projects. The second is “Advocacy for Change: Fostering protection and rights of men and women with disabilities in Myanmar”. 

 

There are global recommendations. There are seven good practices:

  • Related to education:  Case Study I: Promoting Inclusion of children with disabilities in Middle Schools of Ayartaw. Case Study II: How the development of the teacher training promotes inclusion of all children in education
  • Related to economic life: Case Study III: How partnerships between private companies and organizations of people with disabilities can improve access to employment and vocational training
  • Related to social/community life: Case Study IV: Giving the Myanmar Deaf Community access to information.  Case Study V: How parental advocacy can make a difference
  • Related to political life: Case Study VI: Community advocacy in obtaining the National Registration Card. Case Study VII: Supporting people with disabilities to participate in Myanmar elections

 

Quality inclusive education for children with disabilities in Ethiopia

HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL ETHIOPIA
2017

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Achieving education for all in Ethiopia will remain a distant aspiration if most of the 5 million children with special educational needs in the country cannot go to school. Since 2014, Handicap International have been supporting 49 schools to become places where everyone has a role to play in making schools more inclusive.

“When will I get to go home?” Abuses and discrimination against children in institutions and lack of access to quality inclusive education in Armenia

BUCHANAN, Jane
February 2017

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This report documents how thousands of children in Armenia live in orphanages, residential special schools for children with disabilities, and other institutions. The report is based on Human Rights Watch visits to five state-run orphanages and ten state-run schools, including six special schools and four mainstream schools, and interviews with 173 people, in eight cities in Armenia. They interviewed 47 children and young adults, and 63 families of children living in orphanages, attending special schools or attending mainstream schools. They also interviewed directors of orphanages, special schools, and mainstream schools, as well as social workers, doctors, teachers, psychologists, caregivers, and other staff in institutions

Topics include: overview of residential institutions in Armenia; institutionalization of children and young adults and discrimination in the deinstitutionalization process; problems for children and young adults in residential institutions; lives transformed; national and international legal obligations; failure to guarantee quality education to children with disabilities; other forms of education for children with disabilities; government and donors’ response; recommendations

Washington Group presentation

LOEB, Mitchell
2015

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A brief history of the Washington Group on Disability Statistics and their development of standard questions for the collection of statistics on disability worldwide is presented. A short set of 6 questions was originally developed and an extended set of 30-35 was finalised in 2009. Two modules have been developed in partnership with UNICEF for children: one for 2-4 year olds and one for 5-17 year olds.  A module concerned with inclusive education has also been developed

Signs for a good education

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
October 2013

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This video highlights some of the challenges faced by deaf children and young people, and the opportunities sign language education offers them

Handicap International Cape Verde inclusive education

HANDICAP INTERNATIONAL
May 2013

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This video documents the Making It Work study, “Good practices in inclusive education of children with disabilities in Cape Verde”. The video highlights examples of good practice in inclusive primary and secondary education in Cape Verde. The Making It Work approach was used in order to document and promote good practice in line with the principles of Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)

Who’s on my side?

ALLIANCE FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION UK
Parents For Inclusion UK
March 2013

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“"This film features disabled children and young people, their siblings and family members talking about why allies are important. They also talk about the support they get, the support they want and what changes need to be made in education, health and social care services so that they can have real choice and control. It is useful for anyone interested in inclusive education"

Young voices : young people’s views of inclusive education

LEWIS, Ingrid
2007

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This short film and accompanying booklet students with and without disabilities who have participated in the Young Voices activities, provide their personal perspectives of inclusive education. The schools were partners in inclusive education projects with the Atlas Alliance
This resource would be useful for people interested in inclusive education issues in Eastern Africa

Accessible digital textbooks for all

UNICEF

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UNICEF and its partners are driving an innovative solution called Accessible Digital Textbooks for All, to make textbooks available, affordable and accessible for children with disabilities in all contexts. By adding specific features to digital formats and following Universal Design for Learning principles, textbooks can be made accessible to students who are blind or have low vision, to those who are deaf or hard of hearing, and to those who have intellectual, developmental or learning disabilities, among others. The initiative brings writers, publishers, teachers, organizations of persons with disabilities, technologists and ministry of education representatives together to develop the guidelines needed to produce textbooks in accessible digital formats. They jointly set standards for features like narration, sign language, interactivity and the audio description of images.

 

UNICEF is currently piloting the Accessible Digital Textbooks for All Initiative in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Nicaragua, Paraguay and Uruguay throughout 2019, 2020 and into 2021. The goal of the pilots is to test and validate the process of creating quality accessible digital textbooks with the ministries of education and different stakeholders using curriculum-based content, and to measure the learning outcomes for children with and without disabilities using them.

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