Welcome to the 21st WCP Virtual Congress Program Scheduling

As the number of persons experiencing humanitarian emergencies soars globally, those with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) are at higher risk to experience adverse outcomes with limited identification of needs and available supports/interventions. In this symposium, we review the present status of children, adolescents, and adults with IDD facing complex humanitarian emergencies globally. First, we describe the UN framework consistent with the WPA Working Group remit on IDD for inter-sector collaborations in mainstreaming the care of persons with IDD within international processes endorsed by the mission of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affair (DESE) for achieving inclusion under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 that now also subsume the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Munir). Second, we will highlight partnerships with other professional organizations/NGOs including the work of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) special interest group on DD in the context of humanitarian emergencies with analyses of trauma and other comorbidities, available tools for screening, diagnosis, intervention, and examples of efforts to address the important “gap in humanitarian action” (Nasir). Third, we will describe a WHO field study identifying mental health and special education needs of Syrian refugee children with DD and their families. Since the start of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, there have been 7m displaced persons requiring humanitarian assistance distributed in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, and elsewhere, with unreachable special education, mental health, and unmet financial and social needs noted by the findings (Oner).