Valuing Disabled Children and Young People

Focusing on contemporary childhood disability issues, and relevant to the lived experiences of disabled children and young people and their families, this book addresses themes such as transition, identity, education, inclusion, and service provision. It also includes insightful contributions on participatory research and practice with disabled children and young people, including an emphasis on capability, voice, and communicative spaces for those with life limiting and more severe levels of impairment.

The contributions to this book are grounded in a commitment to the rights of disabled children and young people, as explicitly recognised under the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (1989) and Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006). However, the authors also draw our attention to the detrimental impact of economic austerity and conflict on the extent to which these rights are being realised, encouraging further consideration of issues relating to social justice, inter-dependence, and participation. Addressing the diversity of disabled children’s lives across service domains and international contexts, this book provides an evidence base to support the realisation of the rights of disabled children and young people. This book was originally published as a special issue of Child Care in Practice.

Berni Kelly is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at Queen’s University Belfast, UK. Her main research interests are child and youth disability studies, participatory disability research, and transitions to adult life. She is currently working on studies of disabled children and young people living in, and leaving, public care. She is co-chair of the Disability Research Network at Queen’s University Belfast.

Bronagh Byrne is Lecturer in Social Policy at Queen’s University Belfast. Her key research interests are in disability and children’s rights, education, and transitions. She has worked on a number of studies examining the application of international human rights law to policy and practice. She is co-chair of the Disability Research Network at Queen’s University Belfast.