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This advocacy briefing paper presents key information about the inclusion of disability in gender policies and programs. It highlights key facts and issues such as women and girls with disabilities facing multiple discrimination, gaps in political and program responses and legal policy and frameworks. It outlines practical steps can be taken by development actors at different levels and suggests ways to measure progress

Advocacy briefing paper

This newsletter contains a variety of articles about inclusive education in several countries around the world. The topics focus mostly on funding, managing and sustaining inclusive education; engaging and empowering beneficiaries in finding solutions; facilitating parental and child involvement and early childhood education

Enabling Education Review, issue 4

The transition from school is an important period. All young people should be supported throughout this time to access options which allow them to meaningfully participate and contribute to our society as adults. Many young people with disability however have extremely poor post school transition experiences.

This report is based on the direct experience of young people with disability. The paper highlights key issues from current research, legislation and consultations with key stakeholders. It explores present and past school transition practices, barriers faced by students with disability and presents recommendations for improving outcomes and options for post school transition of students with disability

The general approach to the collection of statistics on disability by the Washington Group on Disability Statistics is outlined. The group uses the social model of disability, looking at what in the environment makes it difficult to participate. They use neutral language, asking about difficulties rather than disabilities and consider there to be a spectrum of disabilities (mild-severe)  

Recommendations for data collection of the short set of 6 questions devised by the Washington Group for Disability Statistics are given. The questions are phrased to ask whether the subject has difficulty with any of the domains of functioning. They have been field validated. It is recommended that the questions are presented without initial screening questions, that the enumerators are well trained and that the translations from the original English are appropriate. Four domains are highlighted from the 6 if required by space or time. 

UNICEF envisions a world where no child dies from a preventable cause, and all children reach their full potential in health and well-being. To this end, UNICEF’s 2016-2030 Strategy for Health aims to:

- End preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths

- Promote the health and development of all children

With the first goal, UNICEF commits to maintaining focus on the critical unmet needs related to maternal, newborn and under-5 survival. With the second, UNICEF highlights the importance of also looking beyond survival and addressing the health and development needs of older children and adolescents.

The Strategy emphasises the importance of prioritising the needs of the most deprived children and promotes multi-sectoral approaches to enhance child development and address underlying causes and determinants of poor health outcomes. It aims to shift UNICEF from vertical disease programmes to strengthening health systems and building resilience, including calling for better integration of humanitarian and development efforts by encouraging risk-informed programming in all contexts.

The report highlights key programmes and activities that show innovation and best practice in reaching and empowering children and adults with disabilities in relation to WASH.

Background: Rehabilitation is important for persons with disabilities as it contributes to their sense of autonomy, self-worth and social participation, and improves their quality of life. Improving the quality of rehabilitation services requires the dialogue of patients’ perceptions with those of service providers, in order to recommend informed reform.

Objective: The objective was to explore the experiences of persons with physical disabilities and service providers, regarding the multi-disciplinary rehabilitation services provided at a community-based out-patient rehabilitation centre.

Methods: A qualitative, exploratory study design was used to collect the data. A focus group was conducted with conveniently selected persons with physical disabilities. Three in-depth interviews were conducted with purposively selected key informants. All ethical considerations were adhered to during the implementation of the study.

Results: Patients and service providers had different experiences regarding accessibility to rehabilitation services, and similar experiences with patient education and intensity of rehabilitation. Although the patients experienced that the service providers had sufficient knowledge and skills to manage them, services providers expressed that they lacked certain skills.

Conclusions: The experiences expressed highlighted the need to improve rehabilitation services in terms of increasing the capacity of service providers and providing transport services for persons with disabilities.

This topic guide summarises evidence on the key debates and challenges of disability inclusion in development and humanitarian response. Disability does not necessary imply limited wellbeing and poverty. Yet there is growing evidence that the estimated one billion people with disabilities face attitudinal, physical and institutional barriers that result in multi-dimensional poverty, exclusion and marginalisation. Disability inclusion could increase earnings, tax revenues, and individual and societal wellbeing. It need not be costly or complicated. Inclusive approaches are more cost-effective than piecemeal disability interventions. GSDRC Topic Guides aim to provide a clear, concise and objective report on findings from rigorous research on critical areas of development policy. Their purpose is to inform policymakers and practitioners of the key debates and evidence on the topic of focus, to support informed decision-making

Available in both pdf and online versions