I live in Southwark and I have got a son and young
daughter. I thought of training as a nurse, then became a dental
nurse before moving into management. Now I'm a carer for my son,
Alex.
Alex, who is 15, is studying for five GCSEs and he has got a
foundation diploma certificate in construction from the college
which he attends one day a week.
Alex is interested in working in a nursery. He did work
experience in one and did well. He has a natural ability to get on
with children who get upset or sometimes behave in a difficult
way.
He's done cubs, scouts and been a scout leader. Now he's in the
army cadets. He's got three sailing certificates. And also
people have given him a label - 'autistic'. I don't usually mention
the 'autism' word. I prefer to let people meet Alex as a human
being and special individual.
Alex did well at primary school and we knew he had intellectual
ability. But schools found his behaviour difficult and a lot of
time, money and support would have been needed to make an ordinary
school place work. He was excluded many times - the first when he
was four.
But we persevered. I've had to tread very carefully. I didn't go
in quoting the Human Rights Act or anything but, secretly, I was
willing to take it to court.
I don't think inclusion as being the same for everyone.
Inclusion and equality are individual to each person. Not everyone
likes peas and equality shouldn't mean everyone has to eat peas.
I'm part of a research team at the Institute of Education. We had
speakers from Canada and the US talking about their inclusive
education. It was impressive but seemed a long way from where we
are.
A teacher wrote on my son's review 'he shouldn't be here'. To
get across to them, I had to say 'This is my son. He's human. Cut
him and he bleeds.' I had to be that blunt to get them to see him
as a human being. To their credit, they've moved a lot. The school
had said "Do you really think Alex is capable of GCSEs? It would be
better for both of you if he did the same thing day in, day out -
like in a factory. You're setting him up to fail."
It was hard to stick to my convictions but All Together Better
showed me I hadn't been asking for the impossible - that my
ambitions were reasonable. People said 'go for it'. It was very
reassuring. If I get emotional, people often show me pity. But at
All Together Better, we'd get emotional and it was very different.
We knew we were all battling to get a say for our sons and
daughters. Pity didn't come into it. Before doing the course, I
used to think it was just me facing these problems. When you're
beaten down, people say the only way is up, but sometimes you need
support to help you look up.
Last Updated : 20 January 2011. Page Author: Paul Ferguson.
