Harmful Practices and Children with Disabilities

All around the world, there is a growing recognition that certain traditional practices that have been handed down from generation to generation are in fact harmful to children. Even though these traditional practices continue to have great cultural significance, more and more people are convinced that this does not outweigh the risks posed to the children. While progress in protecting children from harmful practices is gradual and at times slow, it is undeniable that there is progress and that the momentum is growing. However, unfortunately, in many cases what people consider harmful practices is confined to a very specific list.

There is general recognition that child marriage, early pregnancy, violence against women, and female genital mutilation are harmful practices. This also goes to a certain extent to the preference for a son where this might lead to killing or abandoning female babies, and practices like cattle rustling and certain rites of passage or initiation. However, there are other cultural beliefs that lead to actions that put groups of children at severe risk, sometimes even of death.

One of those is the stigma on children with disabilities. This is something that is widespread in many countries. The effects of the stigma vary but often include children being denied equal rights, being ostracised, and sometimes even having their whole family rejected by the community and unable to make a living. They can also lead to neglect or physical abuse. This might be because disability is seen as a bad omen, a curse, a sign of witchcraft, or an indication that the child or the family is being punished by God for sins they have committed.

The effects of these beliefs and the stigma attached to children with disabilities do not always end with rejection by the community or even by family members. In some places, parents are put under enormous social pressure to kill a child with disabilities or to leave them to die. This might be because the disability is considered to be a sign of evil, or because it is believed that the parents will not be able to bear children without disabilities if they do not kill the child with a disability. Similarly, the belief that the body parts of children and adults with albinism have magical or healing properties, leads them to be hunted, mutilated, and sometimes even killed.

This is why I think that the impact of the beliefs and stigma surrounding disability should be recognised as a harmful practice and that they should be included in the campaigns targeting harmful practices. Doing so has the advantage that the ongoing efforts to break down stigma on disability can benefit from the existing strategies and mechanisms in place to tackle harmful practices. As well as the budgets available for it.

Furthermore, if the impact of the stigma on disability is not acknowledged as harmful practice, it will take much more time and effort to reduce the stigma, bit by bit. In the meantime, children with disabilities are not safe, and inclusion of children with disabilities and full participation in the community will not be attainable. And it will not be possible to uphold the rights of children with disabilities.

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