Education for All : Including Children with Disabilities

Abstract

An estimated 40 million of the 115
 million children out of school have disabilities. The vast
 majority of these children have moderate impairments that
 are often not visible or easily diagnosed. Disabled children
 include those with learning difficulties, speech
 difficulties, physical, cognitive, sensory and emotional
 difficulties. Children with disabilities are likely to have
 never attended school. A 1991 report by the UN Rapporteur on
 Human Rights and Disabilities found that at least one in ten
 persons in the majority of countries has a physical,
 cognitive, or sensory (deaf/blind) impairment. Fewer than 5
 percent are believed to reach the "Education For
 All" goal of primary school completion. This number may
 be growing due to global conditions of increasing poverty,
 armed conflict, child labor practices, violence and abuse,
 and HIV/AIDS. Because these children are part of a family
 unit, it is estimated that at least 25 percent of the world
 population is directly affected by the presence of disability.