The main objective of the project was to explore the intersections between the issues related to disability and childhood from a diachronic perspective. To meet this overarching goal and thus fill in the untold story, the project studied the Centre international de l’enfance-CIE’s consideration of the needs of children with disabilities by identifying its role and measuring its influence within transnational networks. Created in 1949 by the French paediatrician Robert Debré, the CIE emerged as a major player in the transnational space of advocating for children, playing a complementary role to UNICEF. It distinguished itself by an approach that was at the crossroads of research and care through the promotion of social paediatrics, the training of professionals and the dissemination of resources and documentation.
One of the main research hypothesis was that the hearing granted to the CIE allowed it to position itself as a major player in the emerging issue of children with disabilities on the international stage, due to the credibility it earned through its international social paediatrics course. This privileged position no doubt allowed the CIE to target training needs in French-speaking Africa (the former French colonies) and to suggest solutions adapted to the local context, especially through knowledge transfer among CIE professionals and specialists in the countries concerned (specialized educators, paramedical staff and rehabilitation professionals, and local healers or practitioners of traditional medicine).
The research was mainly based on the Centre international de l’enfance’s unpublished archives, housed at the Université d’Angers library. The fellow consulted various administrative documents (activity reports, minutes, correspondence), paying particular attention to the proceedings of international conferences whose themes deal with children with special needs and children with disabilities. We studied the CIE’s journal, L’Enfant en milieu tropical, as well as publications aimed at partner organizations (Le Courrier du CIE, la Revue médico-sociale).
The research showed that the International Children's Center successfully offered training adapted to the local context during seminars on the community-based rehabilitation of children with disabilities organized during the 1980s in Mali. The country was then grappling with strong epidemics of poliomyelitis. This comprehensive approach, which involves the active participation of local communities, has made it possible to limit the travel of Malian children to France to receive treatment or undergo surgery. This uprooting of young patients with harmful consequences for the families was increasingly criticized, including within the authorities of the CIE. By involving families and local health workers, the community-based rehabilitation approach implemented by the CIE was deeply imbued with the values of interdependence and solidarity specific to traditional African society. This philosophy of intervention based on an egalitarian contribution from the village circle and on the interconnection between individuals, aimed to recognize the disabled child as a full member of this community. The CIE team worked to sensitize parents and extended family and trained women in the village to ensure continuity of care and follow-up after the seminar. However, despite the success of these initiatives undertaken in Mali, the International Children's Center has not been able to ensure the sustainability of these training courses in the field.
The major conclusion of the research is that disability gradually became, between the 1960s and the 1980s, a key global issue that must be taken into account in all approaches to health and children’s rights.
Revealing the past of disabled children, this research addressed crucial and current questions on care, health issues, social policies for vulnerable populations –even more vulnerable in a global sanitary crisis. This project contribute raising public awareness and change ableist mentalities towards disabled children, thus creating a more inclusive European society.
