Children briefly
Wheelchairs for Children in Asia, Africa and Central America
In developing countries all over the world, children with disabilities are often unable to play freely, go to school, or participate in the daily activities of their communities. Whirlwind Wheelchair International has been working since 1997 to create a wheelchair made especially for children, to give them the mobility and freedom to lead fuller lives. Children's chairs present new design challenges: many who have cerebral palsy, for example, need a chair that has seating adaptations, and all disabled children need a chair that has the flexibility to changes as they grow.
The Whirlwind Junior is a folding-frame wheelchair, designed for easy assembly by Whirlwind network technicians. It is adjustable enough to fit a growing child between the ages of eight and fifteen. During the past year, with the help of funding from Citigroup, WWI's project engineers took the Whirlwind Junior to Africa, Central America and Asia to field-test new prototypes, to establish production processes and to develop a useful instruction manual for building this new chair.
Details via email from whirlwind@sfsu.edu and on the web at http://www.whirlwindwheelchair.org/
Helping Children Who Are Blind . . .
is the title of a new book in the Hesperian Foundation's Early Assistance Series. The series is focused on how to provide assistance to children with various disabilities during the critical first five years of life. This 200 page book by Sandy Niemann and Namita Jacob features simple activities and basic information about: assessing how much a child can see, helping a child learn to move around safely, how to include learning activities in daily work, preparing for child care or school, supporting parents of blind children and teaching basic activities such as eating, dressing and keeping clean.
The book is available in English or Spanish (Ayudando a los Ninos Ciegos) for US$12 from The Hesperian Foundation, 1919 Addison St., Suite 304, Berkeley, California 94704 USA, via email bookorders@hesperian.organd on the web www.hesperian.org
UN Special Session on Children: the Drum Roll Builds
In September the United Nations will hold a special session to review progress in the worldwide implementation of children's rights since the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. In an attempt to breakout of the usual format of these large UN meetings, where delegates mostly read long, prepared statements to each other, UNICEF is launching some high profile activities to stir international interest in the event.
On April 26 the international launch of "Say Yes to Children," a global pledging campaign, was held in London, led by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Nelson Mandela and Bill Gates. The objective is to obtain pledged support of young people, leaders and people of influence for 10 actions essential to improving the lives of children around the world. The pledges will then be presented to national leaders at the September special session. Details: www.unicef.org/newsline/01ma10.htm
In June the final of three preparatory meetings for the special session will be held at the UN headquarters in New York. For information about the special session and other UN agency actions on behalf of children, checkout the Child Rights Information Network on the web: www.crin.orgChildhood disabilities is one of the themes tracked by CRIN. There is also a CRIN Newsletter published three times a year in English, French and Spanish.
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