Good news - the following manuscript has been accepted for publication today. It is a result of a collaborative project between CVC and the World Health Organization.
McLeod, S., Gregoric, C., Blake, H. L., Downey, B., Freire, K., Cologon, K. & Cumming, T., Crowe, K., & Gréaux, M. (2026). Children with disabilities upholding the right to health and healthcare: A co-designed global arts-based study. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.
Here is the abstract:
Purpose. The aim of this study was to co-design research with children to understand their perspectives about health and access to healthcare, particularly relating to children with disabilities (including children with speech, language, and communication needs, SLCN). Articles 23, 24 and 25 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child promote children’s health and Articles 12 and 13 promote children’s communication rights to receive and impart information and ideas regardless of frontiers.
Method. Child-focused participatory action research was employed in four stages. Stage 1: children co-designed the research questions and method (n = 24). Stage 2: children were research participants (n = 126 artworks from 18 countries). Stage 3: children co-analyzed the research to identify themes (n = 8). Stage 4: children co-created a summary presentation (n = 8) to share at the United Nations to advocate for children’s health and access to healthcare. Children with SLCN, other disabilities, or chronic health conditions (e.g., speech sound disorder, vision impairment) were involved in each stage.
Results. In stage 1, children co-designed the following questions: “What makes you healthy?” “Who helps you be healthy?” “Where do you go to get healthier?” “What would your ideal hospital or health service look like?” In stage 2, most creators of the 126 artworks indicated they felt happy about their health (82.54%) and healthcare (72.22%), including creators with disabilities (health 76.67%; healthcare 75.00%). In stage 3, the children summarized themes from the artwork. Having a healthy body and a healthy mind involved: “food, friends, doctors, rainbows, hospitals, abilities, workout and sports, energy, and stuff”. They noticed artwork by children with disabilities focused on hospitals and doctors to keep them healthy and was less likely to include “friends, grandparents, animals, nature, supermarkets, and vegetable gardens”. Children with disabilities wanted staff to listen and be kind, and to give support. Some feared hospitals and needles and wanted to hear music rather than “scary” machines. Children in stage 3 said they had been given space, voice, audience, and influence during the research and agreed “a lot of different voices were included”.
Conclusions. This study: (a) demonstrates the feasibility and value of large-scale, child-led multimodal, cross-border research that includes children with a wide range of disabilities and communication needs, (b) translates children’s perspectives into tangible three service-design specifications (i.e., relational communication and kindness, child-sized sensory-aware environments, and logistical supports), and (c) signals potential dependence on hospital- and doctor-centered interventions by children with disabilities in lieu of accessible community supports. Together, these contributions advance rights-based, participatory, and disability-informed scholarship that seeks to realize children’s communication and health rights in practice.
Here is the presentation from CVC2026: https://childrensvoicesconference.csu.domains/2026/cvc2026-604/
