Abstract
Disabilities in children pose a lot of challenges, fear and worries for the parents and careers of the disabled children. This study tried to find out those challenges faced by parents of disabled children while caring for them. Questionnaires designed to gather the needed information, were distributed to parents of children with disabilities who bring their children for treatment at a Federal government hospital in the eastern part of Nigeria. Same questionnaire was also filled online by parents with disabled children on a Facebook platform that goes by the name “Super Parent”. Our study revealed that parenting disabled children can be very stressful as there are lots of challenges faced by parents of disabled ranging from emotional and financial stress, lack of supports, discrimination, loss of social life and others which result in psychological problems, depression, physical exhaustion and reduced quality of life.
Highlights
Disability has been defined as an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions
Our study revealed that parenting disabled children can be very stressful as there are lots of challenges faced by parents of disabled ranging from emotional and financial stress, lack of supports, discrimination, loss of social life and others which result in psychological problems, depression, physical exhaustion and reduced quality of life
Challenges faced by Nigerians parenting children with disabilities are not different from those of such parents from other parts of the developing world
Summary
Disability has been defined as an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. Impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations (WHO, 2020). “Disability refers to the impact of impairment upon the performances of activities commonly accepted as the basic elements of everyday living” It is estimated that about one billion people or 15% of the world’s population live with disability worldwide, and this includes 93 million children and 720 million adults. In Nigeria, the number of persons living with disabilities is estimated at 25 million in 2011, with 3.6 million people having significant difficulties in functioning (Wikipedia, 2016)
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