Rights of Children with Disability

Abstract

Children with disabilities are at a point where child rights and disability rights intersect. Inevitably, the very children who need these rights the most are unable, through personal and/or social circumstances, to use them. Human rights perspective in disability means viewing children with disability as subjects and not objects. It entails a shift from viewing this group of children as problems toward viewing them as holders of rights. This chapter is an attempt to look at and understand the rights of children with disabilities as laid out by the Indian Constitution as well as by the United Convention on Rights of the Child. There is also emphasis on the nature of the disabling experiences, the trend of societal attitudes, stigmatization, and risk of abuse toward these children, policies that have been laid out for them, and their prognosis during COVID-19. Recommendations have been made as to how best we can protect the rights of children with disabilities.