Sahar is a living example of the importance of detecting disabilities early in a child's life. Parents learn to recognize disabilities and seek help for their children, teachers are especially trained, young women volunteers are recruited to work closely with young children with disabilities and community members assume administrative responsibilities for the programme. The CBR project is part of national efforts to support 'better parenting' in homes, where three quarters of Jordan's children are cared for, by increasing the knowledge and skills of all caregivers concerning child rights and the physical, emotional and psychological needs of the child. Whereas previously children had their disabilities either wrongly diagnosed, like Sahar, or even hidden due to a 'culture of shame', there has been a marked change in areas where the CBR project is in place. Parents of children with disabilities now inform and seek assistance from committees set up to help them.
Schools integrate children with disability into their classes.
And a 1997 survey showed that 80 per cent of the local population's attitudes towards the rights of people with special needs had changed for the better. They said they already believed that the disabled had rights in the community, but CBR had strengthened those beliefs.