AGXStarseed
Well-Known Member
(Not written by me)
AUTISTIC children are being "villainised" by a law that is meant to protect them from discrimination, according to a North East Lincolnshire MP.
Martin Vickers, MP for Cleethorpes, made headway this week on his plans to amend the Equalities Act 2010 which, according to the backbencher and his constituents, is "making bad guys" out of autistic children.
Parents and campaign groups, such as the National Autistic Society, say that Section 4(1) of the act offers schools a "loophole", allowing them to "reject" children with "challenging behaviours" if they believe their attendance could result in violence towards other pupils.
Mr Vickers had managed to secure a 10-Minute Rule Bill – the first step for an MP wanting to create a new law – as part of his bid to create a more level playing field in education.
During his speech in the House of Commons, Mr Vickers explained how a set of parents in his constituency pulled their son out of a local primary school – which the MP did not name – due to the way he was being treated.
Their child is now at Demeter House, a specialist school in Brigg. He relayed how the constituents, Mr and Mrs Chase, became embroiled in a battle with their son's mainstream school when he was "permanently excluded" – a decision taken after the school converted to become an academy.
Mr Vickers said: "They challenged the decision through an independent panel review which concluded that the school had made a premature decision on permanent exclusion.
"It asked them to reconsider, but the independent panel had no power to reinstate their son."
They then later lost a disability discrimination tribunal due to Section 4(1) of the Equalities Act being invoked by the school, which allows the school to put the safety of other children before the right of a disabled child to an education.
Mr Vickers quoted his constituents in saying that disabled children were being "villainised" by the six-year-old law.
"They are being made out to be the bad guys, particularly in disability discrimination cases, rather than the schools," the Chases told Mr Vickers in correspondence.
"Our children's rights to an education and special needs provision are being washed away by this regulation."
Mr Vickers criticised schools for choosing to exclude children with learning disabilities or "challenging behaviour" rather than make "reasonable adjustments" to accommodate them.
Mr Vickers said he "recognised" that some schools had "better special needs provision than others", with some in North Lincolnshire dedicating a teaching assistant solely to being with an autistic child – a job his own daughter had been employed in.
"Society has made great strides in recent years in how we educate and care for the disabled, whether that disability be mental or physical," said Mr Vickers.
"But there is still some way to go and my bill seeks to remedy one of the loopholes."
The bill passed unopposed, with no MP speaking against, and will have its next reading on December 16.
SOURCE: http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/b...tic-children/story-29862428-detail/story.html
AUTISTIC children are being "villainised" by a law that is meant to protect them from discrimination, according to a North East Lincolnshire MP.
Martin Vickers, MP for Cleethorpes, made headway this week on his plans to amend the Equalities Act 2010 which, according to the backbencher and his constituents, is "making bad guys" out of autistic children.
Parents and campaign groups, such as the National Autistic Society, say that Section 4(1) of the act offers schools a "loophole", allowing them to "reject" children with "challenging behaviours" if they believe their attendance could result in violence towards other pupils.
Mr Vickers had managed to secure a 10-Minute Rule Bill – the first step for an MP wanting to create a new law – as part of his bid to create a more level playing field in education.
During his speech in the House of Commons, Mr Vickers explained how a set of parents in his constituency pulled their son out of a local primary school – which the MP did not name – due to the way he was being treated.
Their child is now at Demeter House, a specialist school in Brigg. He relayed how the constituents, Mr and Mrs Chase, became embroiled in a battle with their son's mainstream school when he was "permanently excluded" – a decision taken after the school converted to become an academy.
Mr Vickers said: "They challenged the decision through an independent panel review which concluded that the school had made a premature decision on permanent exclusion.
"It asked them to reconsider, but the independent panel had no power to reinstate their son."
They then later lost a disability discrimination tribunal due to Section 4(1) of the Equalities Act being invoked by the school, which allows the school to put the safety of other children before the right of a disabled child to an education.
Mr Vickers quoted his constituents in saying that disabled children were being "villainised" by the six-year-old law.
"They are being made out to be the bad guys, particularly in disability discrimination cases, rather than the schools," the Chases told Mr Vickers in correspondence.
"Our children's rights to an education and special needs provision are being washed away by this regulation."
Mr Vickers criticised schools for choosing to exclude children with learning disabilities or "challenging behaviour" rather than make "reasonable adjustments" to accommodate them.
Mr Vickers said he "recognised" that some schools had "better special needs provision than others", with some in North Lincolnshire dedicating a teaching assistant solely to being with an autistic child – a job his own daughter had been employed in.
"Society has made great strides in recent years in how we educate and care for the disabled, whether that disability be mental or physical," said Mr Vickers.
"But there is still some way to go and my bill seeks to remedy one of the loopholes."
The bill passed unopposed, with no MP speaking against, and will have its next reading on December 16.
SOURCE: http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/b...tic-children/story-29862428-detail/story.html
