>Moar watching water and thinking 'elephants'
Nerodia
https://www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/herpetology/fl-snakes/list/nerodia-taxispilota/
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2019/06/27/cote-divoire-receives-150-million-to-improve-water-supply-and-sanitation-services-in-12-secondary-cities
Journal of Intellectual Disability Research
Original Article
The stories of ‘snake children’: killing and abuse of children with developmental disabilities in West Africa
Mojdeh Bayat
First published: 27 January 2014
https://doi.org/10.1111/jir.12118
Citations: 13
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Abstract
Background
Killing and abuse of children with disabilities are covert phenomena, occurring in some developing regions, such as in some African countries. Similar to the practice of ritual killing of spirit children in Ghana, the phenomenon of the snake child in Cote d'Ivoire (known as Ivory Coast), is the ritual abandonment or killing of children with intellectual disability (ID).
Method
This study is a qualitative ethnographic investigation into understanding this phenomenon. Three major questions were of interest: (1) Who are the snake children? (2) How are these children viewed and treated? (3) What are ways of changing negative attitudes towards children with developmental disabilities?
Results
The practices of killing, abandonment and abuse of children with disabilities take place in Cote d'Ivoire today, although the extent is not known.
Conclusion
Killing and abuse of children with ID are explained within the context of indigenous African religions, animism and folk culture. The concept of disability ‘otherness’ and inferiority is also explored as a framework for reflection and ethical debate.
Citing Literature
Volume59, Issue1
January 2015
Pages 1-10
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Metrics
Citations: 13
Article has an altmetric score of 28
Details
© 2014 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Keywords
abuse
African folk religions
developmental disabilities
disability otherness
inclusion
intellectual disability
Publication History
Issue Online:
08 December 2014
Version of Record online:
27 January 2014
Manuscript accepted:
12 December 2013