National Council for Persons with Disabilities
An Analysis Of The Situation Of Children With Disabilities In Sudan A SYNOPSIS OBJECTIVE: To analyse the rights of children with disability based on
identifying immediate, underlying and structural causes that led to the non-fulfilment of these rights and reviewing the roles of duty-bearers and organisations that represent children with disabilities.
METHODOLOGY: Literature review, Interviews, Focus groups with children, their families and local civil society organisations, Case Studies
FINDINGS: The analysis identified a number of negative and positive factors that describe the current situation of children with disabilities. Negative: • Social stigma and negative social perceptions attached to disability • Social pressure leads to children with disabilities attempting to “pass for normal” or over-compensating • Medical treatment presents an array of challenges, in terms of the burden of cost and transportation, but also by treating disability as a pathology and focusing only on the path to medical ‘cure’. • Gap in and lack of access to services for children with disabilities compounded by lack of trained and skilled professionals to address disability issues Positive: • Children with disabilities naturally bloom when they are included in their society and partake in regular activities • Parents play a pivotal role in increasing their children’s chances for accessing rehabilitation, education and social inclusion opportunities. They find supportive allies in unions of persons with disabilities and civil society centres and organisations.
• Government of Sudan has enacted a new National Disability Act (2009), calls for the establishment of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities and a national disability fund and ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities • ‘Special Education’ departments have been established in State Ministries of Education, and action taken on a national strategy for inclusive education. • Through the National Council for Persons with Disabilities, themed groups and networks work to design strategies to mainstream issues of children and persons with disabilities in all aspects of government structure.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
What more needs to be done? • Invest in raising awareness of and building capacities of all professionals (doctors, teachers, therapists, social workers), and decision makers (Ministers and heads of all related government agencies, including finance). Specifically updating outdated traditional practices in terms of technical skills, and shifting to a rights-based perspective in national policy-making, planning and budgeting. • Roll out community based programmes for screening, early intervention, treatment and rehabilitation of children with disabilities. This would entail training core teams that would cascade through to train others, empowering families, teachers and community members to work with the children and their disabilities. • Ensure that children with disabilities obtain equal opportunities for proper development by supporting their parents in accessing services or community based programmes and developing social protection schemes that respond to children’s needs for essential procedures and assistive devices and help alleviate the household financial burden brought on by the disability.
An Analysis Of The Situation Of Children With Disabilities In Sudan