Many children with disabilities still ‘written off', UNICEF

[Guest guest]

Many children with disabilities still `written off', UNICEF

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=31810

A UNICEF report launched today finds that, since the collapse of the

Soviet Union, the numbers of children with disabilities in Central

and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic

States (CEE/CIS) have dramatically increased.

According to the UNICEF Innocenti Insight, Children and Disability in

Transition in CEE/CIS and Baltic States, the total number of children

registered as disabled across the region's 27 countries has tripled

from about 500,000 in 1990 to 1.5 million in 2000. An additional one

million children are thought to go unregistered. Most of these

children continue to face their lives in segregated institutions,

suffering from stigma and discrimination.

For decades, vast numbers of children with disabilities have been

placed in institutions and this practice has continued during the

post-Soviet transition period. By 2002, some 317,000 children with

disabilities were living in residential institutions. Cut off from

their families and community from an early age, often segregated in

large facilities and special schools, the prospect for these children

is to graduate to an institution for adults and to face a pattern of

denial of human rights.

" Although children with disabilities have become more visible since

the beginning of transition and attitudes towards them and their

families are changing, many of them remain simply `written off' from

society " said Marta Santos Pais, Director of UNICEF Innocenti

Research Centre (IRC). " Yet, as called for by UNICEF, every child

has the right to grow up in a family environment and in conditions

that ensure respect for their dignity, promote self-reliance and

active participation in social life. "

The report finds that poverty and disability go hand in hand, each

fuelling the other. Families with children with disabilities tend to

be poorer than other families. Disability continues to be poorly

diagnosed and often goes untreated. It becomes a life sentence of

lasting disadvantage. Lacking proper support from the State and with

limited access to quality basic social services for treatment and

care of their children, parents see institutionalisation as the only

viable alternative.

" Deep poverty and a chronic lack of alternatives combine with

outdated medical approaches neglecting the child's best interests and

explain high rates of child abandonment and placement in

institutions " added Marta Santos Pais. " The reality is many parents

feel they have no choice but to give up their children. What these

families need is strong social and economic support. "

The report calls for an immediate end to the common practice of

placing children with disabilities in institutions and segregated

schools. This will require:

-- changes in public attitudes;

-- measures to boost family income so children can stay together with

their families and develop to their full potential;

-- greater participation of parents in decisions affecting their

children;

-- resources for families and the community;

-- changes to the physical environments that exacerbate the impact of

disability.

" Giving parents and communities the power to make their own decisions

is, in itself, a valuable contribution to consolidate democracy in

this region, " said Calivis, Regional Director for UNICEF

CEE/CIS and the Baltics. " It means giving a voice to those most

directly affected, backed by the necessary decentralised, local

resources. "

The report acknowledges that the region has made some progress on

protecting the rights of children with disabilities. There are signs

that attitudes towards disability are changing - most countries now

have legislation to address the reality of these children and more

children are being integrated into society. But, according to UNICEF,

there is still a long way to go.

" Nations can be judged by the way in which they treat the most

vulnerable and most disadvantaged, " Calivis continued . " While

it may be hard to undo the damage already done to children with

disabilities, nations could and should move faster to stop

discrimination and stigma blighting the lives of these children and

their families. As this report underscores, it is time to transform

the care and treatment of children with disabilities from being a

source of public shame to being a measure of human progress. "

Media materials and copies of the Insight in English and Russian are

available from the Centre's Innocenti Newsroom

Related video footage is available free to download on:

http://www.unicef.org