The Right to Education of Children with Intellectual Disabilities: Trends and Barriers towards Inclusion in Europe
Abstract
While the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child repeatedly stresses the vulnerability of children with disabilities and the need to effectively protect and enforce their rights, equal opportunities for children with intellectual disabilities remain poorly addressed. The 16 Country Reports produced as part of European Project Daphne III paint a rather distressing picture of the situation of children with intellectual disabilities.
All of them state that there is very limited evidence on how the rights of children with intellectual disabilities are upheld in the researched countries. The results of our study show that CRC implementation from the perspective of children with intellectual disabilities is far from satisfactory.
While some attention has been paid to education and health, the European countries should focus also on other areas such as abuse and participation of children with intellectual disabilities. Despite progress and positive developments in the area of education and de-institutionalisation, many children with intellectual disabilities continue to be educated exclusively in segregated settings or are placed in long-term residential institutions.