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This technical guidance was commissioned by the UNICEF Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Office to enable UNICEF Country Offices to advocate and support particular programmes and projects related to the deinstitutionalization of children with disabilities through:

• Promoting better decision-making among policy makers and child welfare professionals in the region regarding deinstitutionalization of children with disabilities;
• Supporting governments to understand the need for such work and to plan, monitor, evaluate and sustain the reforms, as well as linking these reforms to broader disability- inclusive changes across sectors and making a contribution to social justice;
• Increasing political will, passion and vision for the development of a child care system to address the range of needs of children, stimulating preventive work to reduce overall numbers placed away from home, and promoting family-based alternatives for the majority of children in the care system

“This study reviews the literature on the meaning and impact of the right to adequate housing for persons with disabilities in cities. It uses the foundational framework of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and demonstrates how the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) provides a new understanding of this complex right”

Adequate Housing Series

"This 75-page report documents the struggles of children and young people with disabilities to be educated in mainstream schools in their communities"
Note: this report is available in an easy to read version from the link provided

Purpose: This study explores the perceptions, knowledge and attitudes of LHWs towards children with disabilities in Pakistan. It considers the feasibility of utilising the LHWs for prevention, early identification and management of disabilities for these children in the community.

Methods: Two Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted with 15 Lady Health Workers (LHWs), and two In Depth Interviews (IDIs) with LHWs of both a semi-urban and a rural community of Pakistan.

Results: LHWs were found to have major concerns and strong emotions regarding children with disabilities. They also revealed the insensitive attitude of community members towards these children. While they understood the major types and magnitude of disabilities better than lay persons, they lacked the knowledge to manage these disabilities. Consanguineous marriages were identified as the main cause of disabilities. LHWs reported that education and health facilities were lacking in semi-urban and rural areas, and demanded that the government provide these facilities for the children. They also expressed their willingness to work for these children, provided they had the approval of higher authorities and were given proper training.

Conclusions: This qualitative exploratory study recommends that the existing primary health system be reviewed, and the possibility of introducing community based rehabilitation services, utilising LHWs’ services for children with disabilities, be examined. In this regard, it is imperative to assess the existing training modules of LHWs and to introduce modules on prevention, early identification, and management of children with disabilities. It is also necessary to employ mass media to spread awareness about persons with disabilities.

This paper describes how national legislation in selected countries has managed to incorporate the concept of reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. It utilises case studies from the following selected countries: Australia, Canada, European Union, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States and Zimbabwe