Children with Disabilities (and Their Families)

Iran is a relatively large country with the area of 636,296 square miles in the Middle East region of the southwestern Asia. Its current population is about 68 million, approximately 60% of which live in urban areas and the remaining 40% in rural regions. The population of people with disabilities is currently estimated to be about 3 million. Iran is one of the world's oldest countries. It has a history of over 5000 years, which includes the days of the great Persian Empire. Over its long history, foreign powers have occupied Iran time and again. In the mid-600's Muslim Arabs conquered Iran and Muslim Caliphs (religious leaders) governed this country for about 200 years. During their rule, the Iranian and Arab cultures greatly impacted each other and the Muslim faith spread throughout Iran. Today, 99% of Iranians are Muslims. In addition to its wealth of history and civilization, Iran is a rich country with regard to its diversity in geographical and cultural make up and also with regard to the abundance of its natural resource of oil. The variety in its geographical regions is well captured by a statement in the world book: Iran is " a land of snow-capped mountains , green valleys, and barren desserts " (Vol. 1, p.331). Ethnographically, Iran's population, in addition to Persians (51 %) is made up of people from a variety of ethnic groups such as Azerbaijanies (24%), Gilaki and Mazandaranies (8%), Kurds (7%), Arabs (3%), Lurs (2%), Balouch, Turkmen and others (5%). Even though Farsi is the official language of Iran, the local languages of each of these ethnic groups, along with the ir various dialects, are very much active and alive throughout the different parts of the country today. Having given an overview of the country itself, we would like to now turn to the concept of disability and how people with disability are viewed in our culture. What will be presented is the result of our preliminary study on this topic. We have planned to develop this work into a more systematic research project in the near future. We approached this question in two different ways: 1) We reviewed previous research studies which have specifically dealt with Iranian people's attitudes towards disability during the past decade in this culture ; and 2) Based on the well recognized importance of language as a significant aspect of culture and also as a means of acquiring the content of culture, we have studied and analyzed a sample of our Farsi folklore i.e. proverbs, poems, and short stories with the goal of

Purpose: Unmet oral health needs affect the quality of life of individuals, especially if they are already at a disadvantage like children with special health care needs. Strategies to mitigate these disparities in India's diverse healthcare settings have hitherto been largely ineffective. This study was aimed to assess the utilisation and barriers to the use of dental health services among children with special health care needs, against the background of a coordinated healthcare programme implemented in Nitte (Deemed to Method: The study was conducted over a 6-month period, from September 2018 to February 2019. A mixed-methods design was concurrently employed for data collection. Utilisation of dental services was assessed quantitatively, and the barriers to dental services utilisation were assessed qualitatively through caregiver interviews, with a sequential data integration strategy. Results: The quantitative data revealed gross underutilisation of dental resources by children (only 16% availed some form of dental treatment), and the prevalence of avoidance behaviour (63% showed reluctance and did not turn up for appointments). Restorative needs formed the highest unmet dental component among the children (67% required secondary dental care). In-depth interviews with the children's caregivers revealed that the presence of cognitive barriers could have a direct effect on the time and quality of dental care delivered to their children. Conclusion: Cognitive barriers among caregivers appear to have a profound impact on the underutilisation of dental services in their children with special