Disabled children are being left out in the cold

Children with intellectual disabilities are being left out in the cold, experiencing high levels of poverty, poor health and discrimination at school.

IHC Director of Advocacy Trish Grant urges political parties to think hard now about how their policies could improve the lives of these children.

Trish Grant says their needs should be a priority for anyone seeking to be elected. “These children and their families are an extremely disadvantaged group on the fringes of our society. Ten percent of New Zealand children under 15 have a disability, 25 percent live in benefit-dependent homes and 28 percent live in sole-parent homes,” she says.

“We know that children in sole-parent families and those reliant on welfare benefits are also more likely to be in poverty than others.”

Trish says every day disabled children and young people are missing out at home, at school and in the community. “IHC is concerned that these children and young people are the invisible children – too easy to ignore.”

IHC is one of 33 community organisations supporting the Tick for Kids’ ‘It Takes a Child to Raise a Country’ campaign. The campaign is design to make children’s rights and interests a central focus of the 2014 election campaign.

IHC is calling on people to take a stand about vulnerable children and support politicians who are prepared to make a difference.

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