According to a new report by the Children's Commissioner, Sally Holland, disabled children in Wales are not getting enough support when it comes to learning and access in schools.
In 2014, when her predecessor published a spotlight report on wheelchair accessibility in secondary schools, he heard from a 9 year old girl who said: “I am sad that I might not go to the same high school as my friend “. This was due to the fact that this girl was a wheelchair user and her first choice school, which her friend was going to, couldn’t accommodate her.
The report found that this case wasn’t isolated, and in fact many secondary schools throughout Wales were not accessible to pupils in wheelchairs. It found that parents were "unhappy, stressed and having to fight for the right" for children to be educated alongside their friends.
Four years later, the current Children’s Commissioner has conducted a follow up report, ‘Full Lives: Equal Access’, which reveals that while some progress has been made, there is still much work to be done to ensure that pupils with disabilities receive the support they need to achieve their educational ambitions. Referring to the 9 year old quoted in the 2014 report, she states “four years on, the situation facing pupils in a similar position to this 9 year old girl has not changed to the extent I would like to have seen”.
She has branded Welsh Government guidance on how schools support the needs of disabled children “out of date” and said those in power in Wales need to be doing more to support learning and access for pupils with disabilities - as Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education and Children I couldn’t agree more.
The Children’s Commissioner says she wants to see councils and the Welsh Government play a more proactive role in enabling pupils and their families to make informed choices.
Her report shows only one of Wales' 22 local authorities sought the views of young people for their plan on how the authority should improve the experiences of disabled pupils in its school.
She says more needs to be done by local and Welsh Governments to change this, so there is less reliance on individual schools to plan for the needs of pupils with physical disabilities.
Her report makes a number of recommendations including consulting children and families, and all local education authorities publishing on their websites their accessibility strategies.
The Welsh Government has had more than four years to respond to the previous Children Commissioner’s review looking at issues around disability access, but here we are in 2018 and nothing has happened.
Malin Owen, a 14-year-old wheelchair user who attends Aberconwy school in Conwy where adjustments have been made to meet his needs, states :“Being able to access all areas of the school makes me feel independent, I do not like to feel different from the other children. I can move easily around my school and I really feel I am seen as Malin, not just Malin who is in the wheelchair.”
Fortunately Malin is receiving the support he needs, but I implore ministers to study these latest findings closely to ensure that all pupils with disabilities receive the same level of support so that they too are given the opportunity to fulfill their educational ambitions. The physical ability of a child should not be a barrier to education in the 21st century.