Pete and Wendy Crane with their son Niki and educational psychologist John Kenworthy staged a ‘teach-in’ outside the gates of the mainstream school which has refused to give a place to Niki. The family now need to find GBP20,000 to take their case to the High Court. Until recently disabled children were entitled to legal aid to help them meet court fees, but now parents must find the cash themselves.
Disability Now, October 1, 1996.

Bradford Education Authority is spending hundreds of pounds in preparing access to the National Curriculum for thirteen-year-old Laura Maloney who will be transferring from Temple Bank School for visually impaired pupils to Rhodesway Upper School. Textbooks and and material will need to be translated into Braille and textbooks explained as words, if Laura is to learn alongside non-Braille-users. A spokesman for Bradford Council said: ‘The investment in staff time and money for equipment for Laura will provide facilities which could be available to other youngsters with similar needs in future’.
Bradford Telegraph and Argus, October 9, 1996.

Blind schoolboy Chris Malone today offered hope to families worried about plans to put more disabled youngsters in Newcastle into ordinary classes. Chris, 16, said he loves being a pupil at Gosforth High School. ‘It is much better in the outside world than being locked up in a special school where your disability is really all you are. I was a bit nervous about going into a big school with lots of other students, but I settled down pretty easily. Everyone gets a bit of bullying but I’ve had nothing major. Your learn to brush it off. Most people accept you for who you are’.
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Evening Chronicle. October 10, 1996.

Our Lady of Lourdes RC School in Fixby has refused admission to three-year-old Paul Proctor because they are concerned where they would stand legally if anything went wrong with his tracheotomy, the artificial opening to his windpipe which helps him breath. Paul’s parents say they want him to lead as normal a life as possible and hope that if he starts school with other youngsters his age they will become accustomed to his disability. According to his father: ‘We have had incidents where children have swung his tube round and prodded and knocked him but if he started school at the same time as other children his age hopefully all that would end’. Mr. Proctor has consulted a so licitor and is considering suing the school for discrimination.
Huddersfield Daily Examiner, October 18, 1996.

Teachers at the Ridings School, Ovenden, Halifax, have threatened to strike unless action is taken against 60 pupils. The teachers have identified the pupils as trouble makers and want to see them disciplined or expelled. Staff morale at the school is so low that the headteacher and her deputy have resigned, exhausted by their battle to keep order.
Hull Daily Mail, October 22, 1996.

A new specialist teaching unit to help children with learning difficulties was officially opened at Morriston Primary, Swansea, today. It will provide teaching support and facilities for youngsters with a range of disabilities, including Down’s Syndrome and autistic problems. The facility is being paid for by Swansea Council which has one of the best records in the UK for integrating special needs pupils into mainstream schools.
Swansea South Wales Evening Post, October 31, 1996.