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Another COVID-19 Front line: Parents of children with disabilities
To ease and help parents cope with these challenges, UNESCO New Delhi and the UNESCO Chair in Community Management of Disabilities (University of Calicut) are proud to launch a booklet for parents and caregivers of children with disabilities, entitled Life in the Times of COVID-19: A Guide for Parents of Children with Disabilities.
The guide explains and illustrates the different aspects that a parent/caregiver must take into account while taking care of children with disabilities. It also addresses the need to maintain the mental health of such parents/caregivers and their various duties and responsibilities, during these unusual times.
Children with disabilities may have underlying health conditions that increase their risk of serious complications from COVID-19. In addition, with regular operations of schools and businesses coming to a halt, the inaccessibility to therapy and support for these children may exert effects that are long lasting and significant. As such, it becomes equally important to take care of their physical as well as mental health.
UNESCO is committed to promote and ensure equitable access to quality education for all. Inclusive education comes out of a vision of the world based on equity, justice and fairness. In this regard, UNESCO New Delhi office launched, ‘N FOR NOSE - State of the Education Report for India 2019: Children with Disabilities’, in 2019. It aims to articulate a vision of education for children with disabilities for 2030 as set out in national and international policy documents and legislative frameworks and has been widely shared across the country.
In collaboration with the UNESCO Regional Bureau for Sciences in Latin America and the Caribbean in Montevideo, the UNESCO Office in Mexico City, and the Family Integral Development System of the city of Leon (Guanajuato, Mexico), the document has been translated and is available in three accessible versions: Audio guide in Spanish; Video guide in Mexican Sign Language (LSM); Braille in Spanish.