Break the silence: protect children with disabilities

Lazarus Sauti

Shalom Marume* is a 17-year old girl who stays with her mother and step father in Tafara, a high density suburb in Harare, Zimbabwe.

She is deaf and suffered sexual violence as she was raped by her step father several times.

“My step father forced me to look at sexual scenes in magazines, photographs, videos and the internet before raping me whenever my mother is not around. He took advantage of me since I cannot cry out for help,” she said.

Shalom added that she is not only an object of abuse by his step father, but of shame, pity, discrimination and stigmatisation from the society.

Forlornly, Shalom is not alone in her predicament as recent studies have estimated that up to 70 per cent of children with disabilities in the developing world have been victims of violence in some way.

Star Tarumbiswa, a social worker, says disabled children are three times as likely as other kids to experience sexual, psychological as well as emotional violence.

“In most African societies, children with disabilities are often seen as emotionally or physically defenceless. Because of this and other reasons, they are three times as likely as other kids to experience violence,” she added.

Tarumbiswa also said due to cultural or traditional practices, girls like Shalom are less likely than boys to receive care as well as food and are more likely to be left out of family interactions and other activities.

Samson Muradzikwa, chief of Social Policy at the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) Zimbabwe, concurs: “Girls and young women with disabilities are ‘double disabled’.

“They confront not only the prejudice and inequalities encountered by many people with disabilities, but are also constrained by traditional gender roles and barriers.”

In a report titled “Breaking the silence: Violence against children with disabilities in Africa”, the African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), a leading, independent, not-for-profit, pan-African centre of policy research and dialogue on the African child, notes that apathy or negligence at the state level in promoting protection undermines the level of support provided to children with disabilities and their families.

This, says the ACPF, includes a lack of financial and medical aid, inadequate and inaccessible state facilities and systems over and above insufficient community understanding.

“A lack of understanding decreases the child’s chances of equal economic and social participation (in itself a form of emotional violence) and allows negative stereotypes to persist, putting the child at continued risk of all types of violence from the community at large.

“As a result, lacking support mechanism and given the community’s negative reaction to disability, a child’s additional demands place emotional, physical economic and social burdens directly on the family unit.

“These pressures further increase the risk of physical and emotional violence within the home, creating a destructive perpetual cycle,” added the ACPF.

Muradzikwa, however, says that violence against disabled people has multiple causes and needs multiple responses.

He, thus, urges African countries to adapt programmes that prevent violence in the general population to disabled people, and one such programme is positive parenting, which teaches about alternative non-violent parenting practices with the aim of reducing the use of harsh punishment.

Muradzikwa also said African nations should not define children by their abilities or disabilities, but respect and give fair chances in life as they are God-given gifts.

“No child should be defined by a disability. Each child is unique and has the right to be respected as such; all children have hopes and dreams – including children with disabilities,” he said, adding that all children deserve a fair chance to make their dreams real.

Muradzikwa added: “When given that chance, children with disabilities are more than capable of overcoming barriers to their inclusion, of taking their rightful place as equal participants in society and of enriching the life of their communities.”

As a result, he affirmed, all countries and societies must embrace inclusive principles if they are to break the silence and protect children like Shalom and others from all forms of abuse.

“When societies embrace inclusive principles and demonstrate this support for equity in practice, children with disabilities are able to enjoy the same rights and choices as other children,” said Muradzikwa.

He added that enabling participation in the community and providing educational, cultural and recreational options is of paramount importance for the healthy, physical and intellectual development of every child, an idea supported by the African Child Policy Forum.

The ACPF argues that the Recent studies have estimated that up to 70% of children with disabilities in the developing world have been victims of violence in some way. This is a shocking figure. Apathy or negligence at the state level in promoting protection undermines the level of support provided to children with disabilities and their families. This includes a lack of financial and medical aid, inadequate and inaccessible state facilities and systems and insufficient community understanding.

A lack of understanding decreases the child’s chances of equal economic and social participation (in itself a form of emotional violence) and allows negative stereotypes to persist, putting the child at continued risk of all types of violence from the community at large. As a result, lacking support mechanism and given the community’s negative reaction to disability, a child’s additional demands place emotional, physical economic and social burdens directly on the family unit. These pressures further increase the risk of physical and emotional violence within the home, creating a destructive perpetual cycle.

general education of carers and the wider community as a whole is necessary to challenge the socially accepted misconceptions that children with disabilities are less productive or less intelligent than their peers – both of which drive the emotional abuse that children face from the community at large.

“Education for carers on behavioural characteristics associated with sensory or intellectual disabilities – such as aggression, noncompliance or communication problems – will decrease a child’s risk of abuse from frustrated family members while financial and emotional assistance would relieve tension and provide support,” alleged the ACPF.

The ACPF added that increasing awareness among carers can help give children with disabilities the opportunities they deserve and will also decrease the damaging belief that they are unproductive burdens on the family, which puts them at further risk of violence.

Articles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) all assert the comprehensive rights of all children, including freedom from violence.

Consequently, all African nations should not only ratify, but also harmonise their national laws to fully protect all children with disabilities from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse.Articles in the UNCRC and the ACRWC all assert the comprehensive rights of all children, including freedom from violence. Yet despite these earnest commitments, this report has highlighted the pervasive and omnipresent violence that continues to be inflicted upon children with disabilities. Previous research has estimated that on average, children with disabilities are 1.7 times more likely to suffer abuse than their non-disabled peers. The majority of the respondents indicated that emotional violence was the most prevalent the frequent type of violence committed against children with disabilities. The study found that children with physical, auditory and visual disabilities were more vulnerable to emotional violence – at 35%, 34% and 33% magnitude respectively – followed by children with intellectual disabilities at 26%. The general education of carers and the wider community as a whole, as mentioned above, is necessary to challenge the socially accepted misconceptions that children with disabilities are less productive or less intelligent than their peers – both of which drive the emotional abuse that children face from the community at large.