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This year, UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children
Report has called on nations to set targets to include children with
disabilities in the mainstream.
India, which
has signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities and Optional Protocol, now needs to promote home-based care,
provide services for children with disabilities and end institutionalisation,
stated the report.The report was released by Social Welfare Minister B.Valarmathi.
It said that a
definition of disability should go
beyond mere medical classification and incorporate social determinants.
It sets a framework to ensure that health and disability are seen within the
broader context of social barriers. Since functioning and disability occur in
certain contexts, it should be meaningful to assess not only bodily but also
the societal and environmental factors at play, it said.
The report is based on the
International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health of the WHO.
“We need to
place the problem at the forefront and create a supportive environment for
children with disabilities; an atmosphere free from exclusion, one that would
encourage them to grow and reach their natural potential,” said Satish Kumar,
UNICEF chief of field office, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. “Let us take the first
step now,” he urged.
The report
sought to ensure that children have a say in schemes that affect them.
Counting every
single child with disability is very important, Dr. Satish Kumar stressed. One
widely used global estimate puts the number of children with some disability at
93 million. However, there are varying estimates for the numbers in India. According
to Census 2001, 2.13 per cent of India’s population is disabled, but the world
report on disability 2011 states that about 25 per cent of the population in
India is disabled.
Source: www.thehindu.com
For details of Promoting the
rights of Children with disabilities by UNICEF, click on following link
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