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A Global Agenda for Inclusive Recovery: Ensuring People with Intellectual Disabilities and Families are Included in a Post-COVID World

Inclusion International
June 2021

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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.

Insisting on inclusion: Institutionalisation and barriers to education for children with disabilities in Kyrgyzstan

MILLS, Laura
December 2020

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Since 2012, the Kyrgyz government has pledged to close 17 residential institutions for children, including three for children with disabilities. But 3,000 children with disabilities remain in institutions.

This report is based on in-person visits to six institutions for children with disabilities and 111 interviews with children with disabilities, their parents, institution staff, and experts in four regions of Kyrgyzstan. It describes abuses in state care as well as barriers to education that often lead to a child’s segregation in a residential institution or special school, or their isolation at home.

 

 

Inclusion and education: All means all. Global Education Monitoring (GEM) report 2020

GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT TEAM
June 2020

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The 2020 GEM Report assesses progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) on education and its ten targets, as well as other related education targets in the SDG agenda. The Report also addresses inclusion in education, drawing attention to all those excluded from education, because of background or ability. The Report is motivated by the explicit reference to inclusion in the 2015 Incheon Declaration, and the call to ensure an inclusive and equitable quality education in the formulation of SDG 4, the global goal for education. It reminds us that, no matter what argument may be built to the contrary, we have a moral imperative to ensure every child has a right to an appropriate education of high quality.

The Report also explores the challenges holding us back from achieving this vision and demonstrates concrete policy examples from countries managing to tackle them with success. These include differing understandings of the word inclusion, lack of teacher support, absence of data on those excluded from education, inappropriate infrastructure, persistence of parallel systems and special schools, lack of political will and community support, untargeted finance, uncoordinated governance, multiple but inconsistent laws, and policies that are not being followed through.

Zero Project Report 2020: Inclusive education. 75 Innovative Practices and 11 Innovative Policies from 54 countries

BUTCHER, Thomas
et al
January 2020

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There are several sections in this report:

  • Executive summary
  • Impact of the Zero Project: Survey results
  • Innovative policies and practices: Factsheets and life stories
  • The Zero Project Impact Transfer accelerator programme
  • An analysis of ICT supporting innovations in inclusive education
  • SDGs, Data and inclusive education
  • Summary of report in Easy Read. 

Themes were:

  • Early childhood and preschool
  • Formal education (primary and secondary education)
  • Universities (tertiary education)
  • Vocational education and training
  • Non-formal education
  • ICT-driven solutions related to education/digital skills

“On the Margins” Education for children with disabilities in Kazakhstan

RITMANN, Mira
March 2019

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Thisd report presents findings of research into report into progress towards inclusive education for disabled children in Kazakhstan and also presents recommendations for future progress.

Field research for this report was carried out between September 2017 and December 2018. The report is based on over 150 interviews with children and young adults with disabilities, their families, and disability rights activists, in multiple cities in Kazakhstan: Almaty, Astana, Kostanay, Kyzylorda, Shymkent, and Taldikorgan. Human Rights Watch researchers visited one PMPK office, five inclusive schools, and four special schools in Almaty and one inclusive school in Kyzylorda. Human Rights Watch also visited three neurological-psychiatric institutions for children in Almaty, Karaganda, and Shymkent. Human Rights Watch met and corresponded with officials from the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and exchanged letters with the Ministries of Education and Health, and with the Almaty City Administration.

Summary of Iraq national report on Sustainable Development Goals & the CRPD

AL-EZZAWI, Hashem Khalil
ALKhafaji, Mowafaq
2019

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This report was prepared by a team composed of disabilities experts, academics, representatives of disabilities organizations and other concerned organizations, and volunteers with disabilities. A common methodology was developed with friendly organizations and associations operating in the Kurdistan Region, in accordance with the UN Convention and sustainable development goals, as follows

 

1- Forming a steering committee consist of the Iraqi gathering of Iraqi Disabled Organizations (IGDO) and other relevant organizations

2- Reviewing national legislations, laws, regulations and strategies related directly and indirectly to the rights of persons with disabilities and their compatibility with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

3- Making sure that the report addresses all types of disabilities and covers all services, activities and areas without exception.

4- Making all the required efforts to insure that monitoring process includes positive and negative records concerning rights realization and sustainability.

5- Conducting a field survey of all activities of organizations of persons with disabilities.

6- Identifying gaps related to the rights of persons with disabilities.

7- Organizing a number of focus groups for different types of disabilities.

8- Providing the database of (IGDO) with data and information on persons with disabilities.

9- Conducting field visits to institutions and centers working in the area of disabilities.

10 - Making Interviews with experts, activists, representatives of governmental and international institutions and civil society organizations working in the field of disabilities in Iraq.

 

Research was carried out into progress in relation to eight of the SDGs (1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 16 and 17)

DFID’s strategy for disability inclusive development 2018-23

December 2018

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The UK Department for International Development (DFID)'s vision is a world where all people with disabilities, women, men, girls and boys, in all stages of their lives, are engaged, empowered and able to exercise and enjoy their rights on an equal basis with others, contributing to poverty reduction, peace and stability. A world where no-one is left behind.

Over the next five years DFID will prioritise four strategic pillars for action: (i) inclusive education, (ii) social protection, (iii) economic empowerment, and (iv) humanitarian action. To complement this focus DFID are adopting three cross-cutting areas, vital to disability inclusion, which will be consistently and systematically addressed in all of their work: (v) tackling stigma and discrimination; (vi) empowering girls and women with disabilities; and (vii) access to appropriate assistive technology.

DFID have introduced a new set of standards for all DFID business units to meet. The standards require all country offices and departments to; review their leadership and culture, engage with people with disabilities, influence others, adapt programming and improve data and evidence.

Improving educational outcomes for people with disabilities in low and middle-income countries: why does it matter and what works?

KUPER, Hannah
SARAN, Ashrita
WHITE, Howard
July 2018

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The studies included in this Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) are taken from the Disability Evidence and Gap Map (EGM) prepared by the Campbell Collaboration for the UK Department for International Development (DFID) under the auspices of the Centre for Excellence for Development Impact and Learning (CEDIL). Eligible studies included systematic reviews and impact evaluations published in English from 2000 onwards that assessed the effectiveness of interventions for people with disabilities in LMICs. Qualitative studies, process evaluations, and non-impact evaluations (e.g. crosssectional surveys) were not eligible for inclusion. Quality grading was applied to the literature, so that assessment could be made of where there was strong evidence and where evidence was limited or missing. The studies were grouped by education sub-outcomes related to different stages in education across the life course; that is: early intervention, primary education, secondary education, non-formal education, and lifelong learning. 

 

There were 24 eligible individual studies, including studies conducted in the Middle East (10), Asia (7), and Africa (5), one from Latin America, as well as one multicountry study

“When will I get to go home?” Abuses and discrimination against children in institutions and lack of access to quality inclusive education in Armenia

BUCHANAN, Jane
February 2017

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This report documents how thousands of children in Armenia live in orphanages, residential special schools for children with disabilities, and other institutions. The report is based on Human Rights Watch visits to five state-run orphanages and ten state-run schools, including six special schools and four mainstream schools, and interviews with 173 people, in eight cities in Armenia. They interviewed 47 children and young adults, and 63 families of children living in orphanages, attending special schools or attending mainstream schools. They also interviewed directors of orphanages, special schools, and mainstream schools, as well as social workers, doctors, teachers, psychologists, caregivers, and other staff in institutions

Topics include: overview of residential institutions in Armenia; institutionalization of children and young adults and discrimination in the deinstitutionalization process; problems for children and young adults in residential institutions; lives transformed; national and international legal obligations; failure to guarantee quality education to children with disabilities; other forms of education for children with disabilities; government and donors’ response; recommendations

Take us seriously! Engaging children with disabilities in decisions affecting their lives

LANSDOWNE, Gerison
et al
June 2013

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UNICEF’s work on disability is based on a human rights approach, with a focus on equity. It has been developed within the framework of inclusive development, and actively promotes the social model of disability. A central tenet is that legislation, policies and programmes must be informed and shaped by the children they will affect. Participation is a foundational principle of a rights-based approach. These guidelines are meant to strengthen the capacity of UNICEF and partners in creating opportunities for children with disabilities to exercise their right to be heard and taken seriously.

It is important to:

  • clearly identify obstacles impeding the participation of children with disabilities;
  • examine why participation is important for children with disabilities;
  • provide practical guidance on how and where to reach out and engage children with disabilities more effectively and systematically;
  • prioritize ways to measure the effectiveness of participatory initiatives with children with disabilities. 

Helping children who are deaf : family and community support for children who do not hear well

NIEMANN, Sandy
GREENSTEIN, Devorah
DAVID, Darlena
2004

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This book was written primarily for parents and other caregivers of young children. It provides a wealth of well-illustrated practical information. The book gives a thorough overview of the different ways to communicate with hearing impaired children. It is written in an easy-to-read style with lots of illustrations and examples from Southern countries.

Helping children who are blind : family and community support for children with vision problems|Ayudar a los niños ciegos : apoyo familiar y comunitario para niños con problemas de la vista

NIEMANN, Sandy
JACOB, Namita
2000

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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

Advocacy and training toolkit

THE ALLIANCE FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION

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"The toolkit was developed by disabled people from France, Italy, Iceland and the UK and is based on learning and evidence from visits to each of these countries. The toolkit offers information and advice to disabled people across Europe to encourage their participation and leadership in the implementation of inclusive education for disabled children and young people"

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