Afrikaans-speaking parents’ perceptions of the rights of their children with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities

Abstract

This study aimed to describe the perceptions of Afrikaans-speaking parents regarding the human rights, as defined by the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), of their children, aged between 8.0 and 14.11 (years/months), with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities. The underlying premise is that the CRC defines the rights of children, whereas the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health, Child and Youth version (ICF-CY) can provide the framework for documenting a deprivation of rights and the conditions under which those rights can be realized. Forty-seven Afrikaans-speaking parents completed a custom-designed survey. The results of the closed-ended questions indicated that most parents felt that their children had rights and that these rights were met. A theme analysis performed on the open-ended questions revealed that parents were mostly concerned about their children’s rights pertaining to school education and safety. These rights were discussed in terms of the CRC articles and linked to environmental codes of the ICF-CY. Finally, the limitations and implications of the study are discussed and recommendations are made.

Keywords

Children’s rights human rights intellectual disability International Classification of Functioning Disability and Health Child and Youth version (ICF-CY)parents United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

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