This report documents the experience of exclusion of people with intellectual disabilities and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. These experiences reveal pre-existing structural inequalities that affected the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and their families before COVID-19, during the pandemic, and beyond, and this report raises up the voices of those most excluded in a time of global crisis and demands an inclusive COVID-19 recovery.
This report includes the experiences of people with intellectual disabilities and families across eight different issue areas. Across these themes, we examined how and why people with intellectual disabilities were left out and excluded in pandemic responses, what pre-existing conditions and inequalities contributed to their vulnerability and exclusion, and how future policy structures could begin to address both this immediate and systemic exclusion.
Together, these experiences and policy solutions form our global agenda for inclusive COVID-19 recovery, an action plan to ensure that government efforts to ‘build back better’ are inclusive of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.
The United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy provides the foundation for sustainable and transformative progress on disability inclusion through all pillars of the work of the United Nations: peace and security, human rights, and development.
The Strategy enables the UN system to support the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other international human rights instruments, as well as the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, the Agenda for Humanity and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
The Strategy includes a policy and an accountability framework, with benchmarks to assess progress and accelerate change on disability inclusion. The policy establishes a vision and commitment for the United Nations system on the inclusion of persons with disabilities.
The strategy is based on three over-arching approaches to achieve disability inclusion: twin track approach; intersectionality; and coordination
There are four core areas of responsibility: leadership, strategic planning and management; inclusiveness; programming; and organisational culture
Refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants with disabilities are not properly identified and do not enjoy equal access to services in reception centres in Greece. On the basis of research carried out in mainland Greece and on the Greek islands in October 2016 and January 2017, and follow-up phone interviews in December 2016 and January 2017, Human Rights Watch found that asylum seekers and refugees with disabilities are not properly identified in Greece, in part because of a rushed registration process and the need for better guidance for staff. Without an adequate understanding of the scale and needs, aid agencies cannot respond effectively. Problems with equal access to water and sanitation services, food distribution, shelter, and health care including mental health and psychosocial support are reported.
Children develop faster in the first five years of life than any other time, and children who are blind need extra help so they can learn how to use their other senses to explore, learn and interact with the world. The simple activities in this book can help families, health workers, and individuals to support children with vision impairment to develop their capabilities. Topics include: assessing how much a child can see; preventing blindness; helping a child move around safely; activities of daily living; preparing for childcare or school; and supporting the parents of blind children. The book is written in an easy-to-read style with illustrations and examples from southern countries