Sanghera Pargan
Mayfield School, Birmingham.
Paediatr Nurs. 2007 Jul;19(6):29-32. doi: 10.7748/paed.19.6.29.s28.
Children with disabilities are among the most vulnerable in our society and are more likely to be abused or neglected than non-disabled children. Health professionals in all settings have an important role in child protection as they are often the first to see the signs of abuse and are in a position to identify risk of abuse. Aside from intentional abuse, there are a number of healthcare practices that can be construed as abuse or neglect. Such practices may have become shrouded under normal clinical routines and continue unchallenged, for example, assuming that disabled children cannot give informed consent or that their privacy and dignity do not have to be maintained as they do not feel embarrassed at having their bodies examined. A health professional or student is guilty of abusive practice if he or she intentionally carries out such practices, allows them to continue by not speaking up or does not learn about the signs and symptoms of abuse in children with disabilities and how to understand their communications. Identifying and stopping both intentional and subtle abusive practices is a complex task requiring changes in attitudes held by many in the health services.
残疾儿童是我们社会中最脆弱的群体之一，与非残疾儿童相比，他们更有可能遭受虐待或忽视。所有医疗机构中的卫生专业人员在儿童保护方面都发挥着重要作用，因为他们往往是最先发现虐待迹象的人，并且有能力识别虐待风险。除了故意虐待之外，还有一些医疗行为可能会被视为虐待或忽视。这些行为可能已经被正常的临床常规所掩盖，并继续存在而未受到质疑，例如，认为残疾儿童无法给出知情同意，或者在检查他们身体时不必维护他们的隐私和尊严，因为他们不会因身体检查而感到尴尬。如果卫生专业人员或学生故意实施此类行为、因不发声而任由其继续，或者不了解残疾儿童虐待的迹象和症状以及如何理解他们的沟通，那么他们就犯有虐待行为。识别并制止故意和微妙的虐待行为是一项复杂的任务，需要改变许多卫生服务人员的态度。
