A new campaign has recently been launched in Northern Ireland, calling for an end to the division between Catholic and Protestant schools. The One School of Thought Campaign calls for a radical rethink of the education system, to secure a better future for children and young people. An open letter has recently been published and presented to Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) in Stormont. Events are being planned and comments from the public have been invited.

A strong call is emerging from parents of disabled children, or those said to have special educational needs, urging the campaign organisers to attend to the issue of schooling for disabled children. Forgetting, ignoring, or otherwise disregarding this important issue, these parents suggest, discriminates against their children. The campaign organisers have set out to “shape a system fit for the 21st Century in which all children learn and are taught together in their local area.” To do that, however, one cannot simply look through the lens of religion and ignore the lens of (dis)ability. As one mother put it: “Education, the opportunity for inclusive education for all, not just the able bodied, is what we should be striving for here.”

CSIE applauds the initiative to prompt educational reform in Northern Ireland, but urges those driving the campaign to listen to the growing call from parents of disabled children. Inclusive education for some but not others is simply not inclusive education.