A/HRC/40/27 9. The Convention on the Rights of the Child thus reinforces the obligation of States to recognize and respect the evolving capacities of children with disabilities and to provide support to strengthen their capacities to enable independent decision-making. In its general comment No. 20 (2016) on the implementation of the rights of the child during adolescence, the Committee on the Rights of the Child called for the provision of supported decision-making for adolescents with disabilities in order to facilitate their active participation in all matters concerning them. Direction and guidance should be offered in a child-centred way, through dialogue and example, in ways that enhance young children’s capacities to exercise their rights, including their right to participation. 7 In this respect, article 7 of the Convention introduces an explicit requirement that children with disabilities must be provided with disability- and age-appropriate assistance to realize their right to be heard. 10. Examples of specific support and accommodation that children with disabilities may require include sign language interpretation, Easy Read format, Braille, tactile communication, communication software, gesture to voice conversion technology and personal digital assistants. Non-verbal forms of communication, including play, body language, facial expressions and drawing and painting, must also be recognized and respected. For instance, expression through art has been successfully used to explore the perspective of children with disabilities who do not communicate verbally. It may require time to build an appropriate communication method as, for example, in the case of children with autism or multiple impairments, whose communication may have to be facilitated through specific means. 11. The requirement to involve the child in all matters affecting them must be interpreted broadly. 8 The child’s views should be sought and taken into account in all decisions and proceedings affecting them, and their right to be heard should be consistently applied by all those concerned, including parents, teachers, caregivers, medical professionals, social workers, administrators, judges, lawyers, parliamentarians and others. This is particularly important in those areas where children with disabilities are more likely to be subjected to human rights violations, for example, in relation to enjoying and exercising their rights to family, to live and be included in the community, to freedom from abuse, exploitation and violence, and to access to justice and inclusive education, among others. B. Enabling children with disabilities to decide on their own lives 12. Children with disabilities must have a say on where and with whom they want to live. They must be enabled to meaningfully participate in all decisions relating to their care arrangements, including proceedings concerning removal from parents or placement in alternative care.9 In its general comment No. 7 (2018) on the participation of persons with disabilities, including children with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in the implementation and monitoring of the Convention, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recommended that States ensure consultations with and the active involvement of children with disabilities in the adoption of all plans and strategies as well as for follow-up and monitoring when implementing the right to independent living in the community. Family law and policies should moreover include provisions to support and educate the parents of children with disabilities on their responsibility to involve their children in decisions affecting them. 13. Empowerment implies that children with disabilities exercise specific skills that are generally not acquired in family settings where there is no experience relating to living with an impairment. Furthermore, the needs arising from particular impairments may not relate to existing knowledge in their communities, and children may require specific training in order to manage their day-to-day needs. Learning how to manage their own bodies 7 8 9 4 Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 5, para. 17. Committee on the Rights of the Child, general comment No. 12, paras. 26 and 27. Ibid., paras. 53, 54 and 97.