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Parenting is never easy, but parenting during a pandemic poses entirely different challenges. The burden is especially unique for parents of children with disabilities, as they take over both roles, that of parents and caregivers. 

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. 

The guide is action-oriented and would help serve all families with special needs in dealing with the extreme crisis of COVID-19. We would like to thank the University of Calicut and the Social Justice Department (Kerala) for their continuous efforts in creating an inclusive approach in raising awareness through the Community Disability Management and Rehabilitation Programme (CDMRP)

-- Eric Falt, UNESCO New Delhi Director

The radical changes and ensuing stress brought about by COVID-19 and the lockdown in the lives of people may also result in different sorts of difficulties among children with disabilities. Hence, their parents and caregivers must know how to manage and guide them during this pandemic

-- Prof K. Manikandan, UNESCO Chair on Community Based Disability Management and Rehabilitation Studies

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.

URL:

https://en.unesco.org/news/another-covid-19-front-line-parents-children-disabilities