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particularly challenging. A useful example is provided
by Family Voices,
a US-based national grassroots
network of families and friends that presses for
comprehensive and culturally suitable health-care
services for children and youth with special needs.
The network, which provides significant informational
and advocacy resources, focuses on family-centred
and community-based services with the aim of
promoting the role of families in decision-making at
all level of the health system.
81
working with communities
Even within a single country, some communities
have made much more progress than others.
What may seem impossible in one place may be
common practice in another. There exists, therefore,
a great potential for communities to learn from one
another. When the resources represented by other
children, families, adults, teachers and community
workers are drawn upon, all persons with
disabilities, including children and adults with severe
impairments, can make a valuable contribution to the
life of their community.
With creative thinking and the vision of children
themselves, many apparent barriers can be trans-
formed into opportunities. Diversity in the classroom
– often a source of concern for teachers – can be-
come a resource for learning. Children with differ-
ent strengths can support each other in a number
of ways, introduce different experiences and break
down prejudices and preconceptions. Indeed, time
and time again it is reported that it is all children
who benefit. By learning to live and work together,
they lay the foundations for an inclusive society. For
example, toys and educational materials for children
with disabilities have often been produced locally.
This is not only cheaper, but more appropriate: it of-
fers employment for local workers, and children with
disabilities themselves can contribute ideas to design
and production.
Encouraging children with disabilities to take part
in sport and recreational activities in company with
their all their peers wherever possible is of critical
Box 6.2 Parent advocacy in Newham, London
In the London borough of Newham, which is a
multicultural, socio-economically deprived inner-
city area, the success of educational inclusion
illustrates the achievement of parents.
i
In 1984, a group of parents of children with dis-
abilities who wished to see the end of segregated
special education stood for election to the Bor-
ough Council, and were eventually elected. The
result was a council policy that recognized the
right of all children, whatever their needs, to learn
together. From the start, the process envisaged
radically changing mainstream schools rather
than fitting children with special educational
needs into the existing system.
There is now only one special school in the bor-
ough, as compared to the total of eight in 1984.
In 1986, only 7 per cent of children identified as
having special educational needs attended main-
stream schools, but by 2001 this figure had risen
to 79 per cent. An independent report commented
that having to cater for children with serious
learning difficulties helped schools to make better
provision for all pupils, evidenced by a marked
improvement in school achievement and exami-
nation results through the whole of Newham.
Source:
i
Material from Jordan, L. and C. Goodey, ’Human Rights
and School Change: The Newham story’, 1996, provided
in Disability Equality in Education, Inclusion in Schools
Course Book, Disability Equality in Action, London,
2002.
relevance. For this reason, the CRPD includes a spe-
cific clause requiring States parties “to ensure that
children with disabilities have equal access with other
children to participation in play, recreation and leisure
and sporting activities, including those activities in
the school system.”
There are many examples of good practice encourag-
ing the inclusion of children with disability in sport
activities, with the involvement of UN organizations,
disability NGOs and a wide range of generic and dis-
ability-specific sports organizations.
82
Examples from
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lao PDR, Malaysia and the
Russian Federation demonstrate that access to sport
and recreational facilities is not only of direct benefit
to children with disabilities but also helps them to
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