Disabled children and adolescents in situations of violence: crossing of social connectors

Abstract

The article aims to discuss the vulnerabilities and exclusions experienced by children and adolescents with disabilities, as well as to analyze the conditions of this population about situations of violence, especially within the family. Therefore, disability and violence, and their social connectors, are also the focus of this article. The study is based on a qualitative approach with a descriptive-analytical perspective, resorting mainly to documentary sources contained in public sites, educational censuses, and institutional reports from the municipal social assistance secretariats of the municipalities under study themselves as primary sources of research. The locus of analysis occurred in two municipalities in Parana, belonging to the metropolitan region of Curitiba/PR, between the years 2015 to 2021. The data mapped situations of aggression and mistreatment and allowed a cross analysis of the categories: economic situation of families and gender. Among the results found, the following stand out: the relationship between the precarious socioeconomic conditions of families and disability; the extent to which children and adolescents with disabilities experience higher rates of violence compared to their non-disabled peers; as for the gender issue, municipality A revealed that 79.66% of the violence was against females, while municipality B showed that 75% of cases of violence were against males. The conclusions point to the need for intensifying studies on disability and violence in relation to other social connectors; the importance of expanding the support network for families and the qualified training of health and education professionals, as a public policy.