Perception of a Social Work Trainee Towards Children with Disabilities

Abstract

Any impairment that is cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, sensory and physical or a combination of these is defined as a disability. It is a wide term that covers impairments, participation restrictions and activity limitations. A disability is not necessarily a health problem alone. According to the World Health Organization, ‘it is a complex phenomenon reflecting the interaction between features of a person’s body and features of the society in which he or she lives’. According to a recent study by the World Health Organization, 15% of the population in the world lives with some or another form of disability. The percentage has risen since the last census in 1970. In a Census taken in the year 2000, it was found that 21 million people in India have some kind of disability. This is almost 2.1 % of the Indian population. Out of a 2.1 %, 1% were visual impaired, 0.2% were speech impaired, 0.1% were hearing impaired, 0.6% had loco motor disability and 0.2 % were mentally impaired. Tamil Nadu was found to have the highest number of disabled females than males. Mortality rates of children with disabilities was found to be 80% by the UN Enable. Estimates say that in India, 12 million children were found to be living with some form of disability. Children with disabilities are either shunned or frowned upon by society. Impairments such as learning disability are ignored or disregarded. This can lead to emotional and social interaction problems among children with disabilities. Various factors lead to disabilities among children, they can occur before birth, at the time of birth, after birth, due to some form of accidents, malnutrition, hereditary factors, infectious diseases and so forth. The present paper attempts to portray the various problems experienced by children with disabilities. The paper also explains social work interventions such as case work and group work.

Keywords: Disability, Case work, Group work