UN says 21,000 Children Have Disabilities as a Result of the War in Gaza
Plus: Sibshop award-winner wants to become the doctor that her brother needed and New York Times readers respond to a conservative's plea for Medicaid
Medical Motherhood’s news round up
Snippets of news and opinion from outlets around the world. Click the links for the full story.
• From ABC (Australia): “UN says Gaza war has left at least 21,000 children with disabilities”
At least 21,000 children in Gaza have been left with disabilities since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7, 2023, according to a United Nations committee.
On Wednesday, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities said about 40,500 children had suffered "new war-related injuries" in the nearly two years since the war erupted, with more than half of them left with disabilities.
Reviewing the situation in the Palestinian territories, it said Israeli evacuation orders during its army's offensive in Gaza were "often inaccessible" to people with hearing or visual impairments, "rendering evacuation impossible".
"Reports also described people with disabilities being forced to flee in unsafe and undignified conditions, such as crawling through sand or mud without mobility assistance," it said.
[…]The committee said 83 per cent of people with disabilities had lost their assistive devices, with most unable to afford alternatives such as donkey carts.
[…]It said Israel should adopt specific measures for protecting children with disabilities from attacks, and implement evacuation protocols that take into account persons with disabilities.[…]
• From Northeastern Global News: “Northeastern student recognized for volunteer work in support group for siblings of children with disabilities and chronic illness”
Chloe Shanebrook-Wein knows firsthand what happens when children have and, more importantly, don’t have support.
Growing up with a nonverbal autistic brother with severe epilepsy, she would sometimes not invite friends over to her house because she was worried they wouldn’t “understand” her brother’s condition. Shanebrook-Wein regrets those moments now, she says, but it’s a reminder of how few resources there are for the families of people with disabilities, chronic illness and mental health needs.
She’s working to fix that. […]Out of more than 2,000 volunteers with the organization [Sibshop], she received JF&CS’ 2025 Simone Lottor Award for Exceptional Volunteer Service for her work.
[…]Growing up, she was used to doctors being dismissive of her brother’s condition and her parents’ desire to get him support. They typically attributed everything to his autism, she says, which led to things like his early hearing problems being shoved under the rug. He had chronic ear infections that became so bad that he was effectively deaf for part of his early life.
Eventually, her brother got the treatment he needed, but the interactions with medical professionals left an impression on Shanebrook-Wein. It inspired her decision to pursue a bioengineering and biochemistry degree at Northeastern, with the eventual goal of going to medical school and becoming the kind of doctor her brother once needed.[…]
The following letters are responding to a New York Times Opinion Piece that was quoted in the Aug. 24 edition of Medical Motherhood. Read that issue if you missed it! As always, the views expressed in opinion pieces quoted by Medical Motherhood do not necessarily reflect our views but are presented for a look at discourse outside of the social media bubbles we find ourselves in.
• From New York Times Letters: “When Cuts to Medicaid Hit Home”
Re “A Conservative Mother’s Plea to Save Medicaid,” by Rachel Roth Aldhizer (Opinion guest essay, Aug. 21):
I read about Mrs. Aldhizer and her disabled son with compassion and sadness, not just for her and her family, but for the countless others in our country who have been — or who soon will be — subjected to the cruelty of an administration that refuses to see each of us as human beings.
[…]It is human nature to see one’s own needs as being of greater importance than the needs of others. I hope her brand of conservatism allows her to step outside her own situation to extend the same charity to those whom she will never meet but who are just as deserving of that charity as her son.
Chris Swenson
La Jolla, Calif.I sympathize with Rachel Roth Aldhizer and her severely disabled son. My own daughter has cerebral palsy and cannot walk, talk or feed herself. She still needs constant care at age 28. Medicaid has been essential for her, and soon she will live in a group home for disabled adults, funded by Medicaid.
Mrs. Aldhizer describes how Medicaid has helped her family. Would she feel the same way about Medicaid if she didn’t have a disabled child?[…]
Hedy Kalikoff
Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.I empathize with Rachel Roth Aldhizer and her 4-year-old son. However, we collectively voted for an administration that does not. This sentiment was expressed by Elon Musk when he said, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”[…]
Jay Ahlbeck
Plainfield, N.J.
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