PART 1: Theoretical Knowledge

According to the World Health Organization, at least one out of ten people in the world has a disability. Disability is not something that you are necessarily born with. A disability can be acquired over the course of one’s life.

Definitions of disability vary a lot not only from country to country, but also within the different groups, but if we need to select and provide one simple and easy to understand definition, it would be that a disability is a physical, mental, or psychological condition that limits a person’s activities.

There are no boundaries to disability. It affects children and adults regardless of their social, ethnic, economic status or geographic situation. Having said that, we need to take into consideration the fact that poverty does make people particularly vulnerable, because conditions, occurring with greater frequency in poorer countries, such as malnutrition, lack of or poor health care, the higher probability of accidents in risky working environments or the lack of early detection of illnesses and abnormalities are among the main causes, standing behind disabilities.

Disabilities can impose numerous challenges before a productive and satisfactory life. For people with disabilities, it is frequently hard to access various health services, employment and education, due to obstacles in the environment as well as due to the attitudes of other people.

The social model of disability has been created as an attempt to change the position of people with disabilities and change the perspective of both society and groups with disabilities towards disabilities. According to the social model, people with disabilities are seen as being disabled not by their impairments (e.g., deafness or mental illness) but by failure of society to account for their needs (Toolkit on disability for AFRICA INCLUSIVE EDUCATION). The understanding that being disabled is part of the normal spectrum of human life and society must expect disabled people to be there and include them, is an understanding, which also InCrea+ adheres to and is attempting to contribute to via artistic methods in school education. The medical model cannot provide disabled people with the access to the full range of educational, employment, social and other opportunities as well as to equal lives.

Considering that adequate education is the first step, which needs to be secured in order for one’s chances for an equal and fulfilling life to be improved, here we will pay special attention to the provision of inclusion in quality school education. The first human rights treaty to call for such education is the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, fixing the requirements in its Article 24: Education.