Proposals to bring the education system within a disability rights framework, announced in the Queen’s speech, were warmly welcomed by the Disability Rights Commission. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Rights in Education Bill will give disabled pupils and students the right to a mainstream education and rectifies one of the major weaknesses of the Disability Discrimination Act. Bert Massie, Chairman of the Disability Rights Commission, said: ‘This is a historic day for disabled pupils and students many of whom have been excluded for decades from the mainstream education system’.
Disabled and Supportive Carer, March, 2001.

Simone Aspis has become the first person with a learning difficulty to be appointed as a national spokesperson for a British political party. She has been selected to speak on disability for the Green Party and she will stand as a parliamentary candidate for Brent East at the general election. None of the three main political parties have ever selected a prospective parliamentary candidate with a learning difficulty. Simone, aged 32, a freelance training consultant, is a long standing member of People First, an organisation run by and for people with learning difficulties. Simone said: ‘I am part of an oppressed group of people who need to challenge the cultural barriers that stop them being able to reach their full potential’, she said.
Community Care, March 1, 2001.

Campaigners battling to save Gloucestershire’s special schools are buoyant about receiving support from an unlikely ally – Prime Minister Tony Blair. Mr. Blair surprised many people when he praised the role of special schools. He was put on the spot by parents when he addressed an audience at Hartpury College. He said he was not qualified to comment on the situation in Gloucestershire but said: ‘The work being done by special schools is absolutely vital and for children with learning difficulties to leave that behind would be absolutely awful’. Graham Barton, chairman of Gloucestershire Special Schools Protection Group, was delighted with the Prime Minister’s endorsement. He said: ‘I feel it gives further credence that Gloucestershire’s position is not the national position’.
Gloucestershire Echo, March 3, 2001.

Sara Hempsall was told that her little boy Jonathan would never settle in mainstream school. According to his paediatric consultant, the autistic five-year-old would be unable to deal with the regime and unable to see himself as part of a group. Mrs. Hempsall spent the entire summer holidays dreading the first day of term. But her fear turned out to be unnecessary because when Jonathan started at Manor Leas Infant School in Lincoln, he was placed in reception teacher Liz Farley’s class. Mrs. Hempsall said Mrs. Farley had turned her little boy’s life around. ‘He now looks forward to lessons, enjoys going to school, and most importantly feels he has a friend’.
Lincolnshire Echo, March 6, 2001.

Furious parents of children with special needs held a demonstration on the steps of Portsmouth’s civic offices, asking the council to: ‘Save Our School’ . Pupils from East Shore Special School in Milton joined more than 40 mums and dads and governors to protest against City Council plans to close their school. And councillors agreed to postpone their plans to divide the children between two other special schools and consider other options. The proposal to close East Shore is part of an inclusion plan to counter-balance the trend of more parents of children with special needs wanting them in mainstream education.
The News, Portsmouth, March 6, 2001.

Parents fear a council scheme to reorganise special schools is based on empty promises. The £21 million plans, agreed at a meeting of Greenwich Council’s schools reorganisation committee, will result in the closure of five special schools and the integration of pupils with moderate learning difficulties into mainstream school. Gill Mills, whose child attends Charlton Park Community School, said: ‘We are really disappointed with the decision. A lot of promises have been made but we still feel they have not given us proper assurances and there is nothing substantial. People are genuinely distressed. Nothing they said made us feel any better’. The scheme includes plans to open two centres of excellence that will both cater for children with severe learning difficulties and physical problems. It is also proposed to train teachers at mainstream schools to deal with pupils with learning difficulties. Mrs. Mills thinks this is unrealistic.
Kentish Times (Bexley Heath and Welling), March 9, 2001.

Work to improve access for disabled pupils to Sheffield’s schools will be stepped up thanks to a further £464,000 Government grant. The cash is part of a £50m national programme which will continue for the next three years. Improvements will include the installation of lifts for children with mobility problems to sound field systems for pupils who are deaf. Another objective is better signposting for partially sighted and blind children and cash will also be available for handrails, specialist furniture, and computer equipment. The Government sees equality of opportunity or disabled children as a key part of its drive to push up educational standards.
Star (Sheffield), March 13, 2001.

Plans to shut schools for children with behaviour difficulties have been put on hold. Education, social services and health specialists will be called in to research the impact of possible closure on children and families. The decision was reached unanimously by members of Gloucestershire County Council’s special education needs development committee. They went against officers who want to press ahead with a full consultation process on the proposal. More than 120 children in Gloucestershire attend four boarding schools where their particular difficulties can be addressed. The Council wants to integrate some of these into mainstream education and possibly close one or more schools.
Gloucestershire Echo, March 22, 2001.

Cheshire union officials have welcomed the introduction of teaching assistants into a number of schools to boost achievement. Members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers say teaching assistants will help pupils to learn and boost classroom achievement. The officially titled learning support assistants are a rapidly growing feature of primary and secondary classroom. About 20,000 extra assistants have been recruited nationally as part of the Government’s drive to give teachers extra classroom support in meeting the specific learning needs of individuals and groups.
Chester Chronicle, March 23, 2001.

Pre-school children with special educational needs will benefit from a £25 million package to tackle learning difficulties, the Government announced this week. The money will be used to train specialist child-care and early years workers, fund services for children with SEN and set up a regional network of experts. A working group will be set up to develop practical guidance on how children with special needs can be identified before they reach their second birthday.
Times Educational Supplement, March 23, 2001.

Kingswood MP Roger Berry has accused the Tories of trying to wreck a bill to outlaw discrimination against disabled children. The Labour MP was outraged when the Conservatives tabled an 11th hour amendment in a bid to prevent the legislation clearing the Commons. He said the Special Educational Needs and Disability Bill was backed by 247 organisations representing the disabled, parents, children and local councils. Blocking it would be a major blow to attempts to ensure disabled people were treated as equal citizens. However, the Conservative amendment was unable to prevent the bill gaining its second reading, raising hopes it will become law before the election. The bill will place a duty on councils to treat disabled pupils equally and strengthen their right to mainstream education.
Bristol Evening Post, March 27 2001.