Article2014

The stories of ‘snake children’: killing and abuse of children with developmental disabilities in W est A frica

48 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Intellectual Disability Research

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Disability Rights and Representation Down syndrome and intellectual disability research Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Killing and abuse of children with disabilities are covert phenomena, occurring in some developing regions, such as in some African countries. Similar to the practice of ritual killing of spirit children in Ghana, the phenomenon of the snake child in Cote d'Ivoire (known as Ivory Coast), is the ritual abandonment or killing of children with intellectual disability (ID). METHOD: This study is a qualitative ethnographic investigation into understanding this phenomenon. Three major questions were of interest: (1) Who are the snake children? (2) How are these children viewed and treated? (3) What are ways of changing negative attitudes towards children with developmental disabilities? RESULTS: The practices of killing, abandonment and abuse of children with disabilities take place in Cote d'Ivoire today, although the extent is not known. CONCLUSION: Killing and abuse of children with ID are explained within the context of indigenous African religions, animism and folk culture. The concept of disability 'otherness' and inferiority is also explored as a framework for reflection and ethical debate.

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References

2017The Content Analysis Guidebook 2000Handbook of qualitative research 1998Nothing about us without us: disability oppression and empowerment 1992Introduction to African Religion 1991Ideology and modern culture: critical social theory in the era of mass communication 2002The Ethics of Killing: Problems at the Margins of Life 2005At the Margins of Moral Personhood 1998African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life

Cited by

2019“A child who is hidden has no rights”: Responses to violence against children with disabilities 2022“There is something like a barrier”: Disability stigma, structural discrimination and middle-class persons with disability in Ghana 2016The Place of Disability 2018Nurturing care for children with developmental disabilities: a moral imperative for sub-Saharan Africa 2021Current situation of children with disabilities in low‐ and middle‐income countries

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