Mind the gap: the human rights of children with intellectual disabilities in Egypt.
Egyptian children with intellectual disability face a double barrier: low public awareness of their rights and poor real-world access to health, education, and social services.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Mazur (2012) asked adults in Egypt about the rights of children with intellectual disability. They used a survey to check how many people knew these rights and how easy it was to reach doctors, schools, and social help.
The answers showed low awareness and poor access across the board.
What they found
Most respondents said they did not know the rights of children with IDs. They also said health, education, and social services were hard to reach.
The overall picture was negative: kids were missing basic supports.
How this fits with other research
Stuttard et al. (2014) saw the same gap in the U.S. Students with moderate to profound ID got sex education at only one-third the rate of peers with mild ID. Both studies show children with more intense needs are left out.
Cooper et al. (2011) looked at adults with ID in the U.K. and found that living in a poor area lowered outpatient visits and raised emergency visits. The Egyptian data now show that, for kids, low rights awareness adds another layer of barrier.
Emerson et al. (2007) found that nearly one-third of the health gap for British children with ID was tied to poverty, not the disability itself. Mazur (2012) lines up with this: when families lack money and knowledge, services stay out of reach.
Why it matters
If you work with families from low-resource or multilingual areas, do not assume they know what services exist. Build a short “rights checklist” into your intake: health cover, school placement, social aid. Walk the family through each item and whom to call. One extra 10-minute step can open doors that surveys say stay closed.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Children with intellectual disabilities (IDs) have the same human value as other children and are entitled to their basic human rights. And yet, in developing countries they face many barriers to accessing these rights. This study focuses on children with IDs in Egypt. METHOD: A new measure, the Human Rights of children with Intellectual Disabilities-Egypt, was developed to assess (1) awareness of the human rights of children with IDs and (2) perceptions of the extent to which children with IDs currently have access to these rights. RESULTS: The questionnaire was completed by 200 respondents across Egypt. Of great concern, there was a widespread lack of awareness of the rights of children with IDs. Moreover, respondents reported that they believed that this group of children had limited access to health care and treatment, including mental health care, social care, education and rehabilitation. CONCLUSION: While the sample size was small, the findings identify the urgency in Egypt of (1) raising public awareness of the human rights of children with IDs, and (2) implementing and sustaining changes to improve access to these rights. The new government is responsible for ensuring that its apparent commitment to human rights is now translated into effective action to make tangible improvements in the lives of children with IDs and their families.
Journal of intellectual disability research : JIDR, 2012 · doi:10.1111/j.1365-2788.2012.01650.x