Analyzing Cultural Rights’ Status of Children with Disabilities Based on International and National Law: A Case Study

Cultural rights are a newly established field of legal studies; the relevant literature has been developed during the 1970s as a spectrum of globally accepted rights. Disabled individuals have been deprived of cultural rights regarding various opportunities. The right of education among the cultural rights dedicated to disabled individuals is a key right. This is because other rights, including participating in cultural life, enjoying cultural traditions, etc. will be realized if accurately executed. Concerning education rights for disabled children, the main international laws include the following: “disabled individuals rights convention” and "child rights’ convention,” and in Iran, "the rule of education promotion for children with disability” and “comprehensive rule of protecting disabled rights”. This study aimed at assessing the feasibility of education rights for children with mental disabilities in Tehran City, Iran, based on the managers' and mentors’ viewpoints engaged in 6 exceptional training centers.

This methodical, descriptive–analytical, and applied study was conducted in 2020. In this study, the researcher prepared a research–made checklist according to the most important law at the international level, namely the "Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" and the "Comprehensive Law for the Protection of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" in Iranian law. The content validity of this scale was obtained using the opinions of experts in the field of disability law and exceptional education. Accordingly, the checklist was provided to them in several stages and its items were modified. Then, based on this checklist, the views of 12 managers and instructors of 6 exceptional primary and secondary education centers in Tehran City, Iran, on the status of students' enjoyment of educational rights were evaluated in a descriptive–analytical manner. Therefore, the required samples were selected by the purposive sampling method. Additionally, the study samples were considered purposively from the managers and instructors section of these centers and one manager and one instructor from each school. The reliability of the research tool remained similar in all places respecting the needs of children with disabilities on educational rights. Therefore, the research tool was reliable. In other words, the researcher believes that with this checklist, the conditions of children with disabilities benefiting from education rights can also be analyzed internationally.

In this study, 7 dimensions and 30 components for the right to the education of children with mental disabilities were extracted. The 7 dimensions were public education; life skills training; the conditions of educational space for technical and vocational education; employing special education teachers; health education; related services, including individual training, transportation and incentive program, and evaluation system. In some components, like all students having public and transportation education, 100% of the study samples believed that it would be operational. In some components, like advising parents on language learning for students with disabilities, 66.7% of the research sample believed that the right to education would not be operational.

According to the research results, among the cultural rights assigned to disabled individuals, the right to education has a fundamental place. If the education of the disabled is properly achieved, it will be a desirable platform for the realization of their other rights.