Understanding the integration of children with disabilities: reflections on the experiences of Sesobel Organization in Lebanon

The number of children with disabilities around the world is estimated around 240 million out of the total number of people with disabilities and they are one of the most marginalized groups. Yet, despite the urgency of the situation they are still not highly included in programs that aims to promote inclusion of people with disabilities. Moving to the Lebanese context, the rights and needs of children with disabilities are not properly met due to several factors creating barriers and challenges for them to be included in the society. This study focuses on the integration process of children with disabilities addressed by the Sesobel organization in Lebanon. This study highlights the practices and ways adopted by the Sesobel organization to navigate this limited environment. Hence, the main question asked is How does the Sesobel organization address the integration process of children with disabilities into Lebanese society? The question addressed is answered through the analysis of the data collected after conducting semi-structured interviews with five participants of the organization in addition to personal observations on site. Moreover, the analysis was addressed through the following concepts: integration and disability, religion and faith-based organization, and models of disability. Following the analysis, it was noted that the socioeconomic situation and status determine the quality of the service and impact the integration process. Moreover, the integration process of children with disabilities goes beyond education, as such Sesobel sets an individualized educational plan according to each child’s disability that covers medical follow-up, educational learning with the implementation of an adjusted curriculum according to each child’s disability and functional/skills learning where children with disabilities are taught skills that allow them to effectively participate in the society. Also, the family’s participation is crucial for the betterment of the process outcome, this research highlights two important factors in relation to the family’s participation: information exchange between the family of a CWD and the professionals and the acceptance of the family of their child’s disability. Additionally, this research underlines the religious (Christianity) influence on the Sesobel organization’s mission through the incorporation of religious practices as part of the integration process. Lastly, this research emphasizes that integration process goes beyond the CWDs seeking integration programs, it is related with the society’s awareness as well, hence, the Sesobel organization works at the level of the society to promote inclusion by spreading awareness through campaigns about the topic of disability and through engaging children with disabilities in different activities.