The Declaration
and Accompanying Resources
The Declaration
The Declaration entitled Better Health, Better Lives: Children and Young People with Intellectual Disabilities and their Families explicitly states common principles and goals underpinning the rights for children with intellectual disabilities and their families, in line with relevant UN Conventions as well as other human rights instruments and commitments.
Lumos, in consultation with self-advocates, has coordinated the production of an Easy Read Version of the Declaration. Lumos has also produced an A1 poster summarising the key messages of the Declaration, designed by self-advocates at CHANGE. The Declaration and allaccessible resources below are available in both English and Russian.
- Better Health Better Lives Easy Read Declaration (English)
- Better Health Better Lives Easy Read Declaration (Russian)
- Better Health Better Lives Poster (English)
- Better Health Better Lives Poster (Romanian)
- Better Health Better Lives Poster (Russian)
If you would like a hard copy or a print quality electronic version of any of these resources please contact Lumos by email BetterHealthBetterLives@lumos.org.uk or by calling +44 (0)20 7253 6464.
ActionPlan
The Declaration includes an Action Plan which outlines the initial steps needed to realise the priorities outlined in the Declaration.
Background Paper
The Background Paper provides additional information on the rights and commitments underpinning the Declaration’s priorities as well as identify key issues and challenges, good practice examples and ways forward.
Priority Papers
The WHO has commissioned a set of Priority Papers which are pragmatic guides to assist countries to develop and implement country action plans. These papers focus on each of the 10 priorities and provide additional explanation, examples of successful practice and resources for implementation.
Priority 1: Protect children and young people with intellectual disabilities from harm and abuse.
Priority 2: Enable children and young people to grow up in a family environment.
Priority 3: Transfer care from institutions to the community.*
Priority 4: Identify the needs of each child and young person.
Priority 5: Ensure that good quality mental and physical health care is coordinated and sustained.
Priority 6: Safeguard the health and well-being of family carers.**
Priority 7: Empower children and young people with intellectual disabilities to contribute to decision-making about their lives.**
Priority 8: Build workforce capacity and commitment.
Priority 9: Collect essential information about needs and services and assure service quality.
Priority10: Invest to provide equal opportunities and achieve the best outcomes. (link to follow)*
* Georgette Mulheir, Lumos’ Director of Operations coordinated the production of these papers
** Jane Anthony, Lumos’ Programme Development Coordinator coordinated the production of these papers
Newsletter Archive
We hope these newsletters will grow further to be an information sharing platform for NGOs active in implementing various aspects of the Declaration in which they communicate with each other on current projects, best practice, lessons learned and upcoming events.
To subscribe to these newsletters or proffer a contribution for a future newsletter, please email BetterHealthBetterLives@lumos.org.uk or call +44 (0)20 7253 6464.
In the News
- WHO information for the media
- Accessible report on Bucharest Conference from CHANGE
- Ending Institutionalized Childhood by Oliver Lewis; Project Syndicate
- Baroness Sheila Holllins delivers maiden speech on the human rights of young people with learning disabilities and the House of Lords discuss Better Health Better Lives.
- Zosia Kmietowicz (2010) European governments promise equal health rights for children with special needs BMJ 2010; 341: :c6806 (Published 26 November 2010), http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c6806.extract
- In their joint submission on the Declaration, Inclusion Europe, Inclusion International, MDAC and the EDF endorse the Declaration. Please read the statement here.
Additional Information
Additional information on this initiative and Lumos’ involvement can be found here: http://www.euro.who.int/intellectual_disabilities
Please check back here regularly for updates.
