Disability access: are we getting there?

In response to the requirements of Part 4 of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, local authorities (LAs) and schools now need to review and revise their strategies and plans to improve access to schools for disabled pupils.

These new strategies and plans should be designed to cover the next three- year period, from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2009. Helpful advice about developing, monitoring and evaluating plans and strategies is available online on the teachernet website.(1)

Given the emphasis on listening to the views of children and young people in relation to their experiences of educational and related services that they receive, it is likely to be increasingly important that disabled pupils should contribute to the development of new access strategies and plans. With this in mind, it is noteworthy that innovative work in this area has already been undertaken by a disabled student, Eleni Burgess. Her research, based on a survey and interviews undertaken in 2002, still includes messages relevant to current circumstances and is all the more powerful because the findings were gathered by someone with direct experience of efforts to include disabled pupils in mainstream schools.(2)

The research reviewed access to the school environment (eg getting around) and to various aspects of the formal and informal curriculum (eg the impact of learning support, the lack of role models, and participation in activities like music and school trips). It also presented the specific views of five disabled teenagers, and these highlighted many of the ‘details’ of school life that made it a difficult or good experience. In conclusion, the study noted that:

‘There is still a long way to go before integration [inclusion] is achieved. No other group in school is so often separated from their peers, excluded from school trips and sports, struggling to get round school, missing lessons, arriving late, and unable to achieve independence.’

More positively, the research report included a checklist for action, identifying a number of ways in which disability access could be improved in schools. It also illustrated how disabled pupils, rather than members of staff, could identify what needs to be done to make schools more inclusive educational environments, and how they should bring about necessary changes.

Notes
1. This information is based on research carried out by the Council for Disabled Children and Special Educational Needs Joint Initiative (SENJIT): Further details are available here.

2. Are We Nearly There Yet?: Do teenage wheelchair users think integration has been achieved in secondary schools in the UK? by Eleni Burgess (2003), can be obtained for £3 (inc p&p). Tel: 0161 449 9635.