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Challenges of providing services to people with disabilities in low-income countries.
Communication Matrix Team
8/10/2016 11:44 PM
At ISAAC today P.Parnes, G. Hashemi and J. Njelesani presented results of studies conducted by the International Centre for Disability and Rehabilitation of the University of Toronto on the status of people with disabilities in seven very low-income countries. The countries were Vietnam and the African countries of Togo, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Niger, Zambia and Malawi (the poorest country in the world). Some of the many challenges they documented, that would impact upon the ability to offer services of any sort include:
- -Poor identification of disability, resulting in unreasonably low estimates of the prevalence of disability.
- -Poor implementation of legislation that exists to foster support for people with disabilities.
- -Stigma attached to disability, resulting in infanticide in some countries.
- -Misunderstandings about disability, such as assumptions that disability is a contagious condition or a punishment for bad behavior.
- -Special vulnerability for females with a disability as compared to males with a disability.
All of these conditions, exacerbated by poverty, serve as barriers for all types of services for persons with disabilities, even when appropriate legislation has been passed by the government. There is a lack of speech services in these countries also: Togo has no speech-language pathologists, while Vietnam graduated its first cohort of SLPs in 2012. Challenges such as these are humbling for those of us who support individuals with complex communication disorders in the wealthier countries.
developing countries
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Statement A
My child doesn't seem to have real control over his body yet.
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Statement B
My child has control over her own behaviors, but she doesn't use them to try to communicate to me.
She doesn't come to me to let me know what she wants, but it's easy for me to figure out, because she tries to do things for herself. She knows what she wants, and her behavior shows me what she wants. If she runs out of something to eat, she will just try to get more, rather than trying to get me to give her more.
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My child clearly tries to communicate his needs to me through gestures, sounds or language.
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Each question you will see is related to a certain message that your child might be able to express using a variety of behaviors. Read the question and decide whether your child is able to express the message described using any of the listed behaviors. If the answer is YES, then you must also decide whether your child has mastered the use of each behavior or whether it is still at an emerging stage. Check either the mastered or emerging box next to any behaviors your child uses to express the message. Use the following definitions to decide whether a behavior is mastered or emerging