Under the Special Educational Needs (SEN) and Disability Bill, which received Royal Assent earlier this month, disabled children across England, Scotland and Wales will be protected against discrimination in education and have more of an opportunity to learn on mainstream schools.
Tha Act places a new duty on schools and local education authorities to plan strategically to increase access for disabled children and requires LEAs to ensure parents are provided with advice, information and a means of resolving disputes with schools and LEAs.
It also requires LEAs to comply, within prescribed periods, with orders of teh Special Education Needs Tribunal (SENT), and makes other technical changes in support of teh SENT appeals and statementing process. Schools must also inform parents about where they are making special educational needs provision for a child.
The Act was welcomed by the Special Education Cosortium, made up of over 250 orgainsations and individuals with a key interest in special education, which had been campaigning for protection against discrimination, so can expect to be treated equally.
'It's a real step towards an inclusive education syatem which will help build a more inclusive society.'
Other duties outlined in the Act are to avoid treating disabled pupils less favourably, without justification, for a reason which relates to their disability; and to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled pupils are not put at a substantial disadvantage to their able-bodied bodies colleagues.
Richard Brewster, chief executive at the charity Scope siad, 'This new law is a turning point in the cmpaign for equality for disabled people. All children stand to benefit from a more inclusive education system.'
