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Imagine a world intentionally designed so that every child, including those with disabilities, has the care, support, and opportunities they need not just to survive, but to thrive. Today’s children are growing up amid extraordinary uncertainties—economic volatility, armed conflict, pandemics, and climate shifts—each compounding threats to their well-being. According to UNESCO, one in every seven children in the Middle East and North Africa—some 21 million—has a disability. Ongoing conflicts, displacement, and under-resourced social services have left many of these children isolated and excluded. Even in more stable societies, policy frameworks require greater attention to guarantee truly universal, inclusive, affordable, and high-quality support. As a result, children with disabilities and their caregivers face an especially heavy burden from these complex challenges.
Even where services exist, they remain fragmented and insufficiently scaled in reach, quality, and funding. Unless significant expansion occurs, children with disabilities will continue to fall through the gaps, unable to access the comprehensive services and support needed to reach their full potential. For instance, the exclusion of children with disabilities from early childhood centers and schools sharply limits their access to vital early interventions, denying them their rights to learn, play, and socialize with peers.
Major obstacles persist: there is a lack of inclusive education policies, inaccessible facilities, curricula not adapted for special learning needs, and too few teachers trained to support students with special education requirements. During times of conflict, schools are often destroyed or rendered unsafe, cutting children off from essential supports such as education, psychosocial assistance, and nutrition programs.
Children with disabilities also face striking inequalities in healthcare access. They encounter barriers to early detection, precise diagnosis, rehabilitation, and treatments. Conflict only deepens these struggles: access to healthcare, lifesaving medicines, and rehabilitation becomes even more limited, worsening disabilities and causing new ones through injury or illness.
Insufficient social protection for families of children with disabilities adds immense financial pressure, as many incur steep costs for care and treatment. Physical inaccessibility—including public spaces, transportation, and buildings—further isolates children. During conflict or sudden displacement, children with disabilities are more likely to be abandoned or separated from caregivers, heightening their risks of trauma, anxiety, stigma, and exclusion.
Governments play a vital role in changing outcomes for children with disabilities. Effective solutions demand a coordinated mix of policies, programs, and regulations, anchored by clear goals, appropriate budgets, and well-defined responsibilities.
A key part of the solution is gathering reliable, up-to-date, and comprehensive data on the realities facing children with disabilities, so their needs are understood in real time and programs can be designed effectively. This information must inform the work of all relevant government bodies—for example, those handling disaster response or accessible urban development—to ensure a unified approach.
Inclusive education should be a top priority. This includes training teachers, crafting inclusive curricula, and ensuring schools are physically accessible. Schools can also expand access to sports, arts, and recreation for all children. In conflict zones, educational responses must include safe, accessible temporary learning spaces, remote options, and specialized training for teachers and aid workers to support children with disabilities.
Psychosocial support is essential to help children with disabilities and their families cope with the many challenges they face—directly addressing prevalent mental health concerns such as anxiety, depression, and trauma. Financial relief should involve caregiver stipends and flexible work policies, supported by vocational training and resources for home-based enterprises to help families build economic security.
Regulatory measures must guarantee the rights of children with disabilities to quality education, healthcare, and social participation while protecting them from violence, abuse, and neglect. Strong monitoring systems are necessary to promote accountability and adherence to these standards.
Healthcare must be accessible and comprehensive, starting from birth registration and early diagnosis to expanded rehabilitation and disability-related services, both in urban and rural settings. Governments should also empower community health workers to reach children with disabilities in remote areas.
In conflict zones, disability-inclusive healthcare is critical within humanitarian aid—ensuring emergency teams are trained and adequate funding is maintained for uninterrupted access to medications, therapies, and nutrition.
Emergency plans should always incorporate safeguards for children with disabilities: tracking their locations and ensuring essential supports—psychosocial care, nutritious meals, medical services, and caregiver assistance—are available. Robust child protection procedures must also be in place to protect against abuse and neglect.
There remains a crucial opportunity to reshape the lives of children with disabilities—moving from exclusion toward true empowerment.
• Sara Al-Mulla is an Emirati civil servant with an interest in human development policy and children’s literature. She can be contacted at www.amorelicious.com.
