Disability inclusion in research
An inclusive world for all children
Over 240 million children around the world live with disabilities. Many face challenges as they try to participate fully in the world: They miss out on learning, health care, playing with friends and enjoying family and community life. For many, discrimination leads to isolation, neglect and abuse.
For children with disabilities, exclusion is often the consequence of invisibility. Few countries have information on children with disabilities and how these disabilities affect their lives. Sometimes, families face ostracism and respond by ignoring a child’s disability or even failing to register their child at birth. As a result, children with disabilities can be cut off from health care, education and social services. They are denied access to basic rights.
The UNICEF Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy provides a roadmap to achieving a more inclusive world by 2030. It focuses on cross-sectoral coordination and better delivery of service. It also highlights the importance of data and research in developing evidence-based strategies.
Guided by the UNICEF framework, UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight collects and monitors evidence on the participation of children with disabilities and their families. Our goal is to progressively mainstream disability in all research, provide a global knowledge base and serve as a research coordination platform on the theme of disability.
