Campaigning parents Paul and Sarah Abel are taking legal action in a bid to secure a better life for their three-year-old son Christopher and other autistic children. They are battling to get Nottingham County Council to fund intensive therapy treatment known as the Lovaas method which is helping to release their son from a world of silence. The therapy is not available on the NHS. However, it is provided by 41 of the country’s 120 local education authorities. Nottingham is not one of those authorities who fund the therapy, although neighbouring Derbyshire and Lincolnshire do.
Nottingham Evening Post, June 17, 1998.

A 14-year-old disabled girl knocked on the door of 10 Downing Street to demand a change in the law which pushes disabled youngsters into special schools. Katie Caryer of Muswell Road, Muswell Hill, took part in a campaign visit to Tony Blair’s office in a bid for ‘inclusive education’. Now Katie and five of her friends will come face to face with Education Secretary, David Blunkett, after they occupied the Department of Education and refused to budge.
Hornsey and Crouch End Journal, June 10, 1998.

Angry parents will stage a march in protest against the threatened closure of a school for the visually impaired. They will hold the demonstration this week in a bid to persuade Bradford Council to drop plans to shut Temple Banks School. A new Parents’ Action Group has been formed to oppose the proposal.
Bradford Telegraph and Argus, June 15, 1998.

Warwickshire County Council has organised the biggest shake-up ever in special needs education. The County County has unanimously approved the proposals going out for consultation which will see 11 special schools closing and more children than ever being included in mainstream education. Some teachers believe losing their jobs is the price you pay for trying to provide the best for children. Others, who prefer not be named are worried: ‘While we want more children to be supported in mainstream schools, the quality of that support might not be widely understood by head teachers unused to learning problems.’
Nuneaton Evening Telegraph, June 17, 1998.

All Greenwich schools are to welcome pupils with special educational needs after its provision for them was criticised for a ‘lack of vision and sense of purpose’. A highly critical 1997 review by the National Children’s Bureau has led to a new draft document called a Special Educational Needs Strategy for Greenwich. It hopes to ensure a ‘long-term transformation’ of the education service in Greenwich into one offering children with special educational needs a place in mainstream education.
New Shopper Lewisham and Catford, June 17, 1998.

Councillors in Carmarthenshire are supporting a charter to integrate youngsters with disabilities and learning difficulties into mainstream schools. The Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education has drawn up a Charter calling for the ending of segregation for all children and young people with disabilities. It believes that excluding children from mainstream because of disability or learning difficulty is devaluing and discriminating. It also believes that segregated education is a major cause of society’s widespread prejudice against adults with disabilities or difficulties. Coun. E. Thomas said the charter should be welcomed because it was full of good intentions but cautioned that it was not covered by serious financial support and laws.
Carmarthen Journal, June 24, 1998.