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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.

What do we know about how to support mental health and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic from past infectious disease epidemics?

QURESH, Onaiza
SCHERER, Nathaniel
July 2020

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The question and the problem:

Symptoms of mental ill-health are common during widespread outbreak of an infectious disease, with high rates of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reported during recent epidemics, such as the recent Ebola crises and SARS-CoV-1. Elevated symptoms of mental ill-health are not limited to patients only, and are seen in healthcare workers, family members and indeed more widely across the general population. Early evidence coming from the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates high rates of mental ill-health and mental health service provision is needed. This evidence brief summarises evidence on mental health support during COVID-19 and other recent pandemics, informing policy and practice during this crisis.

How can social protection responses to COVID-19 be made disability inclusive?

BANKS, Lena Morgon
HUNT, Xanthe
June 2020

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Question & problem

The COVID-19 pandemic and strategies essential for its containment are resulting in severe strains on economies, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). These impacts will be felt most by groups already in or at risk of poverty, including the estimated 1 billion people with disabilities globally. Interventions to address the short- and long-term economic effects of the pandemic are urgently needed. Some countries have begun implementing or announced plans for interventions addressing the economic impacts of COVID-19, such as food assistance, emergency cash transfers, unemployment assistance or expansions to existing social protection programmes. As these programmes are developed, it is important to consider the extent to which their design and delivery is inclusive of people with disabilities. Failure to adequately include people with disabilities in this process will lead to widening inequalities.

Persons with disabilities in the context of internal displacement. Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons (A/HRC/44/41)

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (UN HCR)
May 2020

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In her report, the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, provides an account of the activities she has undertaken pursuant to the mandate given to her by the Human Rights Council in resolution 41/15.

In the thematic section of the report, the Special Rapporteur examines the specific experiences of persons with disabilities in the context of displacement. She analyses the obstacles to the equal enjoyment of their rights and recommends actions to ensure inclusive protection, assistance and durable solutions.

Persons with disabilities in a just transition to a low-carbon economy

HASAN, Maria
November 2019

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Implementing a just transition to a low-carbon economy that aims to leave no one behind will require a context-specific and locally determined mix of legal standards, social protection, skills development and attitudinal transformation that create an enabling environment for green jobs to perpetuate and decent work opportunities for persons with disabilities to proliferate.

What are the key considerations for including people with disabilities in COVID-19 hygiene promotion programmes?

WILBUR, Jane
HUNT, Xanthe
August 2019

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Question & problem

People with disabilities may be more likely to acquire COVID-19, and if infected may be more likely to experience serious symptoms, or die. Aside from those consequences of the pandemic related to morbidity and mortality, people with disabilities are often reliant on carers to aid with common daily tasks, and so social distancing measures may be unfeasible. Furthermore, safe water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and facilities may be inaccessible to people with disabilities, and, in many settings, efforts to deliver services in a socially-distanced world have resulted in the roll out of digital or remote healthcare approaches which are sometimes not accessible or inclusive. One of the key interventions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been international attention, and improved funding, programming and media messaging in support of WASH. People with disabilities – who are most at risk of negative consequences of COVID-19 – most need access to such interventions. Yet, WASH access is considered to be one of the biggest challenges of daily life for many people with disabilities.

An amalgam of ideals – images of inclusion in the Salamanca Statement

MAGNÚSSON, Gunnlaugur
2019

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The Salamanca Statement is a primary point of departure in research and policy on inclusive education. However, several problems have surfaced in the 25 years since its publication. In particular, several different interpretations of the concept of inclusive education and its enactment in practice have arisen. For instance, the definition of the pupil groups in focus varies greatly. There are also varying definitions of the importance of pupil-placement, when it comes to organisation of inclusive education. Using a theoretical framework combining Bacchi’s [1999. Women, Policy and Politics. The Construction of Policy Problems. London: Sage Publications] poststructural policy-analysis and concepts from Popkewitz [2009. “Curriculum Study, Curriculum History, and Curriculum Theory: The Reason of Reason.” Journal of Curriculum Studies 41 (3): 301–319. doi:10.1080/00220270902777021], this article illustrates that The Salamanca Statement allows for a variety of interpretations of inclusion. As a policy-concept, inclusion encompasses an amalgam of political ideals, including welfare-state ideals where education is viewed as a public-good, as well as market-ideals of education as a private-good. Policies of inclusion also define the desired citizen, through categories of disadvantaged children, the ones excluded but to be included for their own good as well as for the good of the future society. The conclusions are that researchers and policy-makers should elucidate what they mean by inclusion with for instance moral- and practical arguments rather than vague references to The Salamanca Statement.

Handbook for coordinating gender-based violence interventions in emergencies

GBV AoR
2019

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This handbook is a quick-reference tool that provides practical, field-level guidance to establish and maintain a Gender Based Violence (GBV) sub-cluster in a humanitarian emergency. Chapters include:

1. GBV concepts for coordination (1.6 Ensuring inclusion of persons with disabilities in GBV interventions)

2. GBV coordination policy and structures

3. GBV coordination functions and roles

4. Implementing a GBV subcluster

5. Core references and additional resources.

 

Shaping health systems to include people with disabilities. K4D emerging issues report

DEAN, Laura
et al
November 2018

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People with disabilities are at a heightened risk of communicable and non-communicable diseases and these diseases can cause debility and disability. Health needs of these people often extend beyond requiring continual longterm medical support to addressing broader social inequities. Key areas that are likely to be critical in re-orientating health systems from a biomedical approach towards inclusive health systems that are more responsive to the needs of people with debility and disability in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) are offered in this report and cover the following:

 

  • 1. Nothing about us without us: prioritising person-centred health systems
  • 2. Responding to issues of access in mainstreaming disability within health systems
  • 3. Ensuring the provision of specialised services
  • 4. Community based rehabilitation 
  • 5. Improving the collection and use of disability related data against modified legal and policy frameworks
  • 6. Partnerships are paramount
  • 7. Financing and social protection 

Case studies are provided from Sudan, India, Liberia, Uganda and Nigeria

Global Disability Summit 2018 - Summary of commitments

August 2018

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The key objective of the Global Disability Summit was to deliver ambitious new global and national level commitments on disability inclusion. National governments and other organisations made 170 sets of commitments around the four central themes of the Summit (ensuring dignity and respect for all, inclusive education, routes to economic empowerment and harnessing technology and innovation), as well as the two cross-cutting themes (women and girls with disabilities and conflict and humanitarian contexts), and data disaggregation.

 

Commitments made can be viewed in full on: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/global-disability-summit-commitments

 

Disability and climate resilience research project

KETT, Maria
COLE, Ellie
August 2018

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This 14-month exploratory research project aimed to increase the understanding of the links between disability and climate resilience, and in turn to support the delivery of policy and programme work that builds the resilience of people with disabilities to climate shocks and stresses. 

 

The research comprises: an extensive literature review to identify the current evidence and gaps; a global online survey to identify current practices being implemented in the field around climate change and climate-related disasters, and the extent to which disability issues are addressed in programming; policy analyses, complemented by key informant interviews with policymakers and practitioners; and focus group discussions with people with disabilities in climate-impacted areas of Bangladesh and Kenya. This report synthesises the results of the desk- and field-based research, and outlines implications of the findings for policy and programming and identifies recommendations for further action. It is hoped that the findings highlighted in this report can be extrapolated to develop more disabilityinclusive practice and will also be applicable for other contextually marginalised people

Systems thinking for assistive technology: a commentary on the GREAT summit

MACLACHLAN, Malcolm
SCHERER, Marcia J
2018

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The area of assistive technology has a long history of technological ingenuity and innovation. In order to ensure that the benefits of assistive technology are equitably distributed across the population and life course, it is necessary to adopt a systemic approach to the area. We describe examples of systems thinking and non-systems thinking across 10 Ps. These Ps are People (or users, as the primary beneficiaries of assistive technology), Policy, Products, Personnel, Provision (as key strategic drivers at systems level); and Procurement, Place, Pace, Promotion and Partnership (as key situational factors for systems). Together these Ps should constitute a framework for an “open” system that can evolve and adapt, that empowers users, inter-connects key components and locates these in the reality of differing contexts. The adoption of a stronger systems thinking perspective within the assistive technology field should allow for more equitable, more resilient and more sustainable assistive technology across high, middle- and low-income contexts and countries.

Disability inclusion in disaster risk management - Promising practices and opportunities for enhanced engagements

GUERNSEY, Katherine
SCHERRER, Valerie
April 2018

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Disaster risk management aims to address vulnerability in order to reduce risk and therefore needs to consider the full range of vulnerability drivers, including those that affect persons with disabilities. This report presents the results of comprehensive review of the state of practice in disability-inclusive Disaster risk management (DRM) undertaken by GFDRR (Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery). The report is intended to help World Bank staff incorporate persons with disabilities and a disability perspective into their ongoing DRM work. The report will also be of interest to other development actors and stakeholders working on DRM.

Disability and inclusive education - A stocktake of education sector plans and GPE-funded grants

BANHAM, Louise
PAPAKOSTI, Elena
et al
March 2018

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This report was commissioned by the Global Partnership for Education’s Secretariat to take stock of how disability and inclusive education are included in education sector plans in 51 countries, including GPE-funded programs, such as education sector program implementation grants, program documents, implementation progress reports education sector analysis, if applicable, and other relevant GPE program documents.

This report documents progress and highlights the need to step up support to GPE partner countries on disability and inclusive education, to improve consideration of issues around disability and inclusion in education sector analysis and sector planning processes to better promote the achievement of GPE 2020 strategic goal 2, and to fulfill the transformative vision of Agenda 2030

Good practice guide: embedding inclusion of older people and people with disabilities in humanitarian policy and practice Lessons learnt from the ADCAP programme

AKERKAR, Supriya
BHARDWAJ, Rhea
2018

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This guide shares good practices and challenges that have emerged through the experience of the Age and Disability Capacity Programme (ADCAP) implementing partners, in embedding inclusion of older people and people with disabilities within their humanitarian policies and practices. All mainstream and specialist organisations engaged in humanitarian responses can learn and benefit from this experience. This guide complements the ‘Humanitarian inclusion standards for older people and people with disabilities’ (see Appendix 4), by documenting practices that will help humanitarian organisations to systematically include older people and people with disabilities.

Nine change themes that reflect successful inclusion practices emerging from the ADCAP experience are presented. Each theme includes analysis — using examples of action from ADCAP implementing organisations, a set of good practice action points, and case studies detailing how change was brought about in different implementing organisations

GEM report summary on disabilities and education

UNESCO
2018

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In support of the run-up to the 2020 GEM Report on inclusion and education, this paper contains summarised content related to disabilities and education in previous Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Reports since 2010. Reports cited from 2010 and 2015 monitored countries in the Global South. The GEM Report started monitoring countries in the Global North from the 2016 Report onwards only.

 

Topics covered include: compliance monitoring; the role of civil society organisations; lack of data; marginalisation; data on primary school attendance; intersection with other disadvantages; different education related challenges; and ten education policies to counteract marginalisation.

Yuin, Kamilaroi, Sámi, and Maori people’s reflections on experiences as ‘Indigenous scholars’ in ‘Disability Studies’ and ‘Decolonisation’

GILROY, John
UTTJEK, Margaretha
GIBSON, Chontel
SMILER, Kirsten
2018

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Disability research in Indigenous communities operates within a culture of academic neo-imperialism. There is a need to decolonise disability research on a global level. Limited knowledge exists on Indigenous disability researchers' experiences in the disability research academy and on Indigenous disability research methodologies. In part, this is due to the limited writings produced by Indigenous peoples on disability research and research methodologies. Four indigenous disability researchers, one from the Nordic Region and two from Australia, and one from New Zealand met during and after the 2017 Nordic Network on Disability Research conference and reflected on and discussed each other’s experiences as Indigenous disability researchers. This paper reports on these scholars’ reflections on comparing the research methodologies and experiences of their disability research. Findings highlight how although Indigenous peoples are from different tribes/nations and countries, there are similarities and differences between each of the Indigenous disability researcher’s approach to decolonisation in disability research. The paper concludes that Sami, Australian Aboriginal people, and Maori people can learn from each other to advance the decolonisation of disability research, service and policy, at local, national and international levels.

 

Disability and the Global South, 2018, Vol.5, No. 2

Towards inclusion. A guide for organisations and practitioners

VAN EK, Vera
SCHOT, Sander
November 2017

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Inclusive development is about creating societies that value and enfranchise all marginalised groups. It is often not difficult to open up development projects to persons from these marginalised groups. But it does take time before organisations are willing and able to fully commit to inclusion.

Towards Inclusion aims to support organisations who wish to commit to an inclusive approach. It establishes the rationale for inclusion and provides technical advice and tools for putting theory into practice. It is intended to be used as a reference during organisational development, as well as a tool to support good practice in implementation.

If you are looking to support a (development) organisation in the process of becoming an inclusive organisation, then Towards Inclusion is for you

This guide consists of three parts. The first part guides the reader through the process of assessing whether or not the organization is ready to change towards becoming a more inclusive organization. The second part introduces the ACAP framework, which sets up a way of approaching inclusion via focus on the areas: Access, Communication, Attitude and Participation. It then demonstrates how the framework can be applied to projects and programmes. The third part provides guidelines for the people who will guide organizations through the process of change towards becoming inclusive of persons from marginalized groups

Still left behind: Pathways to inclusive education for girls with disabilities

ABU AL-GHAIB, Ola
ANDRAE, Karen
GONDWE, Rachel
LEONARD CHESHIRE DISABILITY
June 2017

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This progress review aims to: provide a synthesis of the understanding of the additional barriers that girls with disabilities face in education; highlight effective or promising approaches and programmes addressing these barriers, including policies and legislation; point to gaps in evidence; and provide recommendations on a way forward. An internet search of relevant grey and academic literature on gender-responsive inclusive education was carried out. A search of websites of (inter) national non-governmental organisations, donors, and research institutions on the subject of gender-responsive inclusive education was conducted. In addition, requests for information on gender-responsive inclusive education interventions were submitted to platforms such as the Pelican Initiative and the Gender and Development Network UK. Subsequent referral to contact persons was followed up via email and phone with requests for sharing of studies, evaluations, progress reports, and other relevant documents of interventions.

Support and guidance for the report provided by UN Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI)

LANDMINE MONITOR report 2016

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN TO BAN LANDMINES – CLUSTER MUNITION COALITION (ICBL-CMC)
November 2016

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Landmine Monitor 2016 provides a global overview of the landmine situation. Chapters on developments in specific countries and other areas are available in online Country Profiles at www.the-monitor.org/cp. Landmine Monitor covers mine ban policy, use, production, trade, and stockpiling, and also includes information on contamination, clearance, casualties, victim assistance, and support for mine action. The report focuses on calendar year 2015, with information included up to November 2016 when possible. 

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