RESPONDING to the Disability and Discrimination Act consultation paper, the Independent Panel for Special Education Advice welcomes extension of the act to bring special needs children within the scope of the anti-discrimination legislation.
Schools, say IPSEA, continue to discriminate against children with special needs. Its case files include many incidents of children being permanently excluded, for instance Down’s syndrome children being left out of school photographs for “image reasons.
But the extension of the Act will not help parents denied special educational provision, warns IPSEA. The Disability Rights Task Force has recommended that the legislation need not cover this, as special education law already provides protection. The Government “is risking serious anomalies which will undermine the intention to increase access to mainstream schools,” says IPSEA.
For more information, contact John Wright or Christine Richardson at IPSEA , tel: 01394 380518.
