Disabled Children and their Families: A Decade of Policy Change

Abstract

Focusing mainly on the United Kingdom, this article reviews a decade of national and international policy and legal changes in relation to disabled children and their families. It discusses attempts to transform the ways that disabled children are perceived and the rights accorded to them. The UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons, specific UK policy initiatives and debates on universal and specialist provisions are outlined. Consideration is given to whether these initiatives have contributed to equality of opportunity for disabled children. The association between poverty, deprivation and child disability is identified as a major challenge for social policy.

Families Supporting a Child with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities: The Current State of Knowledge

“…Attention also needs to be paid to the possible intersection between parental and child disability and effective supports across the generations (Read et al . ).…”

The Negotiation of Motor In/Capabilities by Two Children with Cerebral Palsy as Experienced by their Carers

“…Such results are useful, in that they point to the possible impact of a range of variables beyond severity of motor impairment as influential in the well-being of children with CP. As Read, Blackburn, and Spencer (2012) argue, socio-cultural context, including the social attitudes and practices, policy and services defining the environment within which children with CP and their families live, plays a major role in both producing and reducing experiences of dis-ability. Researchers, policy makers and health care professionals are thus alerted to a variety of person-environment interactions that need to be taken into consideration when investigating everyday experiences and planning interventions to promote optimal functioning in children with CP and their families.…”

Disabled Children's Voices: The Nature and Role of Future Empirical Enquiry

“…Subsequently, a whole day's seminar was given over to developments in policy across the four UK jurisdictions. These are reviewed in this issue by Read and others (). Interestingly, the seminar presentations made little, if any, direct reference to research findings influencing policy decisions.…”