Policy Note | Adolescents with Disabilities: Enhancing Resilience and Delivering Inclusive Development

This policy note summarises key findings from a new Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) report which takes stock of current evidence from a thematic evidence review on the wellbeing of adolescents in LMICs combined with survey and qualitative research baseline studies in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Jordan and Palestine. The research involved more than 6,000 adolescents and their caregivers – including approximately 600 girls and boys with physical, visual, hearing or intellectual impairments, alongside service providers and policy actors. Importantly, the report draws attention to the multiple and intersecting capabilities that need to be supported in order for adolescents with disabilities in LMICs to reach their full potential. It goes beyond a focus on their access to education and health services, and also considers their rights to psychosocial wellbeing, protection from violence, mobility and opportunities to participate within their communities, as well the skills, assets and support they need to become economically independent once they transition into adulthood.