[senco-forum] Disdabled teacher wins substantial compensation

Take note that Nottingham and Notts County are the lowest statementing  
authorities -- and held up as an example by the Inclusion Alliance and  20/12 (who 
want all special schools closed down) as having progressive disabled  person 
policies and barrier free mainstream schools -- so much for the  rhetoric. I 
have found, also, that the spin on Nottingham being  progressive on disability, 
not borne out in reality in relation to appeal  cases for young children -- 
who have been routinely and  unreasonably refused statutory assessment or 
statements -- even  for the most severely disabled early years children -- in order 
to obstruct  parents right to prefer a special school with vital specialist 
provision --  closure of special schools being the hidden policy -- based on a 
"run-them-down  by starving them of new entrants policy". Particularly true of 
3 year olds  who used to be very well provided for at special schools in that 
area with  excellent early years facilities and who are not getting a 
placement until  aged 5 as a result of these policies. This particularly hits the 
least well off  families with the most severely disabled young children in 
Nottingham in my  experience. Mind you, the cases I dealt with were a few years ago 
-- I  would be interested to know what is happening in that area now  -- if it  
has improved generally in allowing parents the full choice of provision and  
placements as the law intends -- I'm happy to be corrected if abiding  by the 
law and making parents preferences a priority has improved.

On the question of disabled teachers -- I sat on the NUT's working  party 
that drew up their seminal policy document in the 80's on improving  employment 
access for disabled teachers. A colleague on that committee was a  quite young 
completely blind Head of English at a large, successful, secondary  high 
school. She was extremely successful as a teacher -- with the appropriate  
technical and assistant teacher support. So -- playing fair on  disability employment 
is not a new or innovative idea that has only arrived  with the disability 
discrimination act. There is a long history of good and bad  practice -- with the 
NUT leading the way in progress. So there is no  excuse for Nottingham in 
this case -- good employment practice and the law has  been around a long, long 
time. Brendan