In recent decades, children's right to participation and influence has increasingly gained its place on the agenda, but not to the same extent for children with disabilities.
"Generally, disabled children experience exclusion from communities, overprotection from adults and a lack of faith in themselves, which later in life can lead to passivity and helplessness," says Christina Strandholt Andersen.
Christina has completed her doctoral work in the PhD programme Child and Youth Competence Development (BUK).
Her thesis examines how Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, stipulating children's right to express their opinion and be heard, is expressed in the everyday lives of children with disabilities.
Based on a process with a group of children, it is concluded that the children want to participate and have influence, provided that they experience recognition from others and themselves.
"Disabled children are first and foremost children. It is up to adults to create the right conditions for the children to have opportunities to form and express their own opinion. For the individual child, this could mean increased participation in communities and an increased belief in themselves," says Strandholt Andersen, and adds:
"At the same time, it may create a more nuanced understanding and knowledge of initiatives and actions in both everyday decisions as in larger political and societal contexts."
- Read the entire thesis here: Empowerment for children?
The main findings of the PhD:
- Disabled children experience limited participation in decision-making processes regarding their habilitation. However, the children express either being satisfied with or agreeing to participate only in minor decisions. Possible factors, which may affect the children's experiences, could be a lack of experience with being asked about their opinion or a desire to become normal, where the therapist is considered the expert in achieving this.
- Disabled children believe that it is important to participate and have influence in everyday life, if the following prerequisites are present: feeling safe, being supported by their surroundings and having faith in themselves. The children experience that limiting factors to participation and influence can be found both in the children's own impairment as well as in the encounter with their surroundings. The participating children experience recognition from their family, while outside the home they experience being treated differently because of their impairment.
- The thesis proposes a new theoretical dynamic model for empowerment. The model can be used as a framework for empowerment processes with disabled children in order to promote their desired participation and influence in everyday life.
- In children's research, proper use of participatory methods over time may contribute to empowerment processes for disabled children. Through gradual transfer of initiative and responsibility, the child's inner strength and agency can be built up to achieve participation and influence in research processes.
Contact information:
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