Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the perspectives of disabled children in the global north and south, using data from them. It asks why they often experience exclusion and abuse within their families and communities and makes links with theory about identity, personhood, diversity and structural violence.

Paper long abstract:

Attitudes to disability vary cross-culturally but it is common for disabled people to be denied personhood, to be regarded as altogether different, sometimes as hardly human. Being 'different' seems to legitimise exclusion and the denial of human rights for the individuals concerned. Disabled children regularly experience at the very least: poor access to basic facilities and services (such as health and education) which are seen as essential for their nondisabled peers. More dramatically they are often excluded, bullied, abused and neglected both within their families and by their communities at large. They are members of two structural groups (children and disabled) who are often cast as a burden, vulnerable, helpless and as receivers not contributors in society. Thus they are at risk of and often experience structurally violent treatment from others.

This paper uses data from disabled children in the global north and south (UK, S Asia and E Africa) to consider their perspectives on their lives. It considers why being different is so challenging in many societies, drawing on theory about identity and personhood, and asks why difference attracts negativity, rejection and violence. Children with impairments are different in particular ways but they insist that these are less important than their status as citizens and children. They emphasise that they have more in common with their nondisabled peers than they have differences from them. Despite often being cast as vulnerable, they regularly resist such categorisation and show themselves to be strong, capable contributors.