Disability & mainstream – when it CAN work

There is a boy at T’s old mainstream school who is registered disabled. He’s been there since nursery, he’s one of T’s best friends.

I do “coffee” with his mum from time to time and we text each other, especially now T is no longer at the school. (We moved T in the summer as he’s working about 2 years above his age group and needed more challenging work)

I’m digressing…anyway H has been there since 3 years old, he’s accepted, the other children play with him in the playground and if there are times when he’s upset, there aren’t any withering looks that we, as autism parents, are familiar with. He also has his 1:1 care as a given.

How has this Narnia-like situation in a mainstream school come about, you’re probably asking… Well H has cerebral palsy, he’s in a wheelchair so the children and people in the playground can SEE his disability and how it has effected him.

The children in his class have grown up with him being there and make sure he’s included by wheeling him around at breaktimes and before and after school. I’m not belittling his situation at all, by the way, his mum is his full-time carer, they’ve had to move to a bungalow and she has to do a lot of lifting.

And that’s the “thing” with autism, you can’t see it, feel it, smell it, touch it or hear it – it’s an invisible disability.

I will do a blog about D’s experiences in mainstream as an autistic child but it wasn’t pleasant.

Comments/RTs as ever welcomed.
J