Children and COVID-19 Research Library

This paper reports a study with families of children with disabilities in Uganda during the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020, known as COVID-19. Families of children with disabilities in Uganda are well informed about COVID-19 and try to follow prevention measures. Families of children with disabilities have difficulties meeting daily basic needs as they were unable to work and had no income during the COVID-19 related lock down. The COVID-19 response affects access to health and rehabilitation services for children with disabilities in Uganda. Parents of children with disabilities struggle with home education and learning due to lack of access to accessible learning materials and learning support in Uganda. The COVID-19 response affects the peer support networks and social support for parents of children with disabilities in Uganda. Children with disabilities and their families should be involved and considered in the development and implementation of the COVID-19 response.

This article aims to examine the impact of COVID-19 restrictions among children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Parents of 213 Australian children (5–17years) with ADHD completed a survey in May 2020 when COVID-19 restrictions were in place (i.e., requiring citizens to stay at home except for essential reasons).

The COVID-19 crisis is disrupting life in every corner of the globe. But while its impacts are far-reaching, the virus and the measures implemented by governments to contain its spread are hitting the most vulnerable children and families the hardest. Even before the pandemic struck, children with disabilities were among the most disadvantaged, facing increased exposure to abuse and discrimination as well as reduced access to services in many parts of the world. This publication uses existing data to illustrate the vulnerabilities that place children with disabilities at higher risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. It documents what has happened to services for children and adults with disabilities across the world and includes examples of what has been done to address disruptions in services. It also discusses the challenges in generating disability-inclusive data during the pandemic.

This report is about the difficulties children with disabilities face in accessing education in the world’s poorest countries. The exclusion of learners with disabilities from education is due to many reasons, including inaccessible school facilities, a lack of assistive technologies, poor health, prejudice, discrimination and stigma. The interconnected and complex nature of achieving inclusive, quality education for all therefore requires stakeholders to break with siloed approaches and to work collaboratively across economic, social, cultural and protection sectors and domains.

Raising a child with a mental disability puts a significant amount of social, financial, and psychological strain on the entire family. Parents are especially susceptible as they are the primary and only constant caregivers. The difficulty of the task demands that aspects of caretaking be delegated to external agencies to reach an optimal compensation between personal well-being of the parents and nurturement of the child. Amid the haste policies created for country-wide lockdowns, many governments have ignored this vulnerable subset of the popula-tion.