Children's rights

The UN conventions describe children's right to participation and that children with disabilities are the most vulnerable members of society due to their age and disabilities which together increase their dependence on others in order for their rights to be fulfilled.

Being able to participate in everyday life is a human right. Previous research shows that children with disabilities have less opportunity to participate in everyday activities such as cooking, taking care of pets and participating in leisure activities. Previous research also shows that if children with disabilities have the opportunity to participate in everyday activities, better opportunities are created for them to learn things and to develop.

Ask the children themselves

It is quite unusual to ask the children themselves how they view their participation, often it is considered too difficult for children and especially children with disability to answer questions about this and it is believed that they may not be able to give correct answers. Therefore, adults, parents, teachers or caregivers have often been asked to answer for the children. However, our experiences as researchers are that it is possible to ask the children if you use the right aids that make it easier for them. To make it easier for the children to answer the questions, a conversation mat with pictures that can help the child in the conversation has been developed. It has also been proven to work live online and through applications (see Validations and Digital Solutions)

The tool was developed by a group of international researchers with long experience of researching children's everyday functioning in both high- and low-income countries, based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.