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This recent Ofsted report SEND: old issues, new issues, next steps provides an interesting account of our learners' experience during Covid-19 and is worth a read.

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The most efficient way of being inclusive is by giving the learner ownership of how any alternative approaches/support should be  actioned.

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The most efficient way of being inclusive is by giving the learner ownership of how any alternative approaches/support should be  actioned.

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Women & girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Women & girls with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Understanding life experiences from early childhood to old age

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An example of how the wrong help might affect someone with ADHD.

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An example of how the wrong help might affect someone with ADHD.

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Applicable to other conditions too...

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People with disabilities are often taught the anti-skill of pretending to ourselves and others that we have no disability-related limitations.

Most people (disabled or otherwise) have the related anti-skill of assuming that everyone present has pretty much the same physical and cognitive abilities. (Or, in other words, that no one present has a disability that significantly affects physical or cognitive functioning.) This often leads to the assumption that people who aren't doing a task either haven't been told what to do, or aren't sufficiently motivated to do it.

These two anti-skills can make it very, very hard to solve problems when something goes wrong for disability-related reasons.

This kind of conversation tends to happen a lot:

Someone: You need to do the thing.

Disabled person: I'm having trouble with the thing.

Someone: "Can't you just do the thing this way that sounds reasonable but is actually impossible for you?"

Disabled person: "You're telling me it's possible in tones of absolute conviction and are making me forget that I won't be able to do it that way. Ok, I'll do the thing from now on."

The disabled person, predictably, fails to do the impossible thing.

Someone with an entirely reasonable need for the thing to get done: Why didn't you do the thing?!

Disabled person: I don't know. I'm sorry, I'll try harder, I'll do it from now on.

This, predictably, doesn't work either.

The task doesn't get done, because it's impossible to do things that way.

In these situations, disability is neither acknowledged nor accommodated, and things end badly for everyone.

Or, to give a less abstract example:

Aubrey has severe ADHD. She's been fired from several jobs for failing to keep track of things and missing key deadlines, and she's on thin ice at her current position. Blair, Aubrey's boss, is running out of patience for the problems caused by Aubrey's overdue work.

Blair: Aubrey, you've missed several deadlines, and it's causing serious problems for the team. What's going on?

Aubrey: I'm having trouble keeping track of everything.

Blair: Most of us here use to-do lists on our cubicle whiteboards. I've noticed you don't have a to-do list on your whiteboard. Can you do that from now on?

Aubrey (who has never, ever used a to-do list successfully): Ok, I'll start using a marker board and meet my deadlines from now on.

Blair believes that everyone can use to-do lists, and has never thought of the possibility that anyone might not be able to.

Blair is making a suggestion that from his perspective is completely reasonable and possible.

Aubrey responds to Blair's certainty, and forgets that her limitations will prevent that from working for her.

She believes, in the moment, that if she tries hard and takes enough responsibility, she'll be able to use the to-do list and meet her deadlines this time.

Even though that's never worked before, and there's no real reason to believe that it will work any better this time.

Trying hard doesn't make disability go away, and it doesn't make impossible things possible.

Aubrey, predictably, fails to use the marker board, because that strategy doesn't work for her. And she, predictably, gets fired, because the tasks need to get done and she's not doing them.

From Blair's perspective, Audrey was given a lot of patience, guidance, and multiple chances.

Blair has a legitimate need for the work to get done.

This is probably going to keep happening, so long as Audrey tries to rely on willpower to solve problems rather than honest assessment of her capabilities.

When others expect us to do impossible things, it can be hard to remember that they are impossible. Particularly if we're told that they're easy or that everyone can do them. Especially if we are surrounded by people who are successfully doing the thing.

All of this can be very disorienting, especially if someone whose opinion we care about is angry or disappointed. It can be surprisingly difficult to keep in mind that disability is real.

It's also crucially important. Agreeing to do something impossible that "everyone" can do doesn't magically give us the ability to do it. It just sets us up for failure.

We are all much better off if we face reality and spend time doing things that are possible. Everyone else does. It's well-known that expecting people to do impossible things is counterproductive and demoralizing. Only exceptionally unreasonable employers expect people to lift 300lbs, sprout wings and fly, turn lead into gold, or decrypt 128-bit encryption keys in their heads.

It's just as unreasonable to expect disabled people to do things that our impairments make impossible. One limitation we share with everyone is that pretending that something is possible won't make it possible. We are much better off acknowledging reality, working with our brains and bodies rather than against them.

This is hard. Remembering the truth often requires us to fight through shame and disorientation, or to violate serious taboos. No one succeeds at this 100% at the time, but it does get easier with practice. It's also really, really worth it.

Whenever you are able to stop trying to do an impossible thing through sheer force of will, it makes it more possible to do things. You don't have to overcome disability to do things that matter. You just have to find things to do that are actually possible, with the abilities you actually have. The things that you really can do are worth doing.

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You can do more when you remember that you're disabled.

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People with disabilities are often taught the anti-skill of pretending to ourselves and others that we have no disability-related limitations. Most people (disabled or otherwise) have the related anti-skill of assuming that everyone present has pretty much the same physical and cognitive abilities.

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On the Fringes:  Preventing exclusion in schools through inclusive, child-centred, needs-based practice. (Jackie Ward)

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On the Fringes:  Preventing exclusion in schools through inclusive, child-centred, needs-based practice. (Jackie Ward)

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In 'On the Fringes: Preventing exclusion in schools through inclusive, child-centred, needs-based practice', Jackie Ward opens up the debate surrounding school exclusion and its link to special educational needs (SEN), and shares action-oriented strategies designed to bring about a more inclusive approach.

Too many of our vulnerable young people are being excluded even those with SEN and the very young who are only just on the cusp of school life. And having seen first-hand the impact that exclusion has on children with often unmet medical needs such as autistic spectrum condition (ASC) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) Jackie explores in this book the realities of what exclusion means to each of us and its impact on wider society.

Jackie examines this critical issue through the lens of her experiences in both mainstream and specialist settings and presents practical, solution-focused guidance to help schools deliver the inclusive education that every child deserves. Drawing upon a range of sources, Jackie's wide-reaching analysis is backed up with case studies, up-to-date research and anecdotal reports setting out a balanced view focusing on the stated and underlying needs of schools, staff, parents, children and other agencies.

'On the Fringes' scrutinises exclusion procedures and reviews the SEND Code of Practice in depth, particularly highlighting the role of early interventions in detecting underlying SEN and medical needs. Jackie also explores a range of pre-emptive and alternative approaches that can be employed as part of a whole-school approach to pastoral care and behaviour management that develops pupils self-awareness and self-regulation.

In doing so she offers informed inspiration to teachers and SEN practitioners working with some of our most vulnerable children who, without our care, compassion and tailored provision, are too often destined for lives on the fringes of society.

Suitable for teachers, school leaders, SEN professionals, policy-makers and parents.

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On the Fringes: Preventing exclusion in schools through inclusive, child-centred, needs-based practice

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Buy On the Fringes: Preventing exclusion in schools through inclusive, child-centred, needs-based practice by Jackie Ward (ISBN: 9781785833519) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

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Tips and ideas about working with those who have difficulty with executive functioning (ADHD)

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This was written for prisons but has some really useful tips for everyone

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Self-harm

Behaviour disorders

ADD & ADHD

Depression

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Autistic spectrum

Speech and language impairments

Tourette Syndrome

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Moderate/severe learning difficulties

Dyslexia

Dyscalculia

Dyspraxia

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Hearing/visual impairment

Duchenne Muscular                Dystrophy (DMD)

Cerebral Palsy

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Here are lots of resources and links to the SEND Centres of Excellence

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Special Educational Needs and Disability

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This site brings together some of the most effective materials available on the Excellence Gateway, as well as brand new material. This site will be of interest to teachers, support staff, managers and leaders, working in the FE sector, who want to improve the outcomes for learners with SEND.

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Easy-to-read explanations

Here you can find explanations of some words in easy-to-read.

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Here you can find explanations of some words in easy-to-read.

Click on the word to read its explanation.

Do you know how to explain a word in an easier way?

Contact us at secretariat@inclusion-europe.org and let us know!

A - B - C - D - E - G - H - I - L - M - N - P - R - S - U - V - W

A
Abuse Accessibility Act Accessible
B
Ballot box Board of Directors
C
CERMI Chair Civil Rights Commissioner at the European Commission Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe Complex Support Needs Constitution Council of Europe Council of the European Union Culture
D
Deinstitutionalisation Disability High Level Group Discrimination
E
Easy-to-read Educate EEG Elect Election Electoral List Empower Employ EPSA European Commission European Court of Human Rights European Day of Persons with Disabilities European Disability Forum European Disability Strategy European Economic and Social Committee European elections European Network for Independent Living European Parliament European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities European Pillar of Social Rights European Solidarity Corps European Union European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
G
General Comment Government Guardianship
H
Hashtag Human Rights
I
Inclusion Europe Inclusion International Inclusive education, training, employment Independent living Institutions Intellectual disability
L
Legal capacity
M
Manifesto Mental Health Europe MEPs
N
NGO
P
Personal Assistance Political party Politician Politics Polling station Procuration
R
Rape Referendum
S
Segregation Self-Advocacy Social Media Spitzenkandidat Strategy Supported decision making
U
UN CRPD UN CRPD Committee United Nations
V
Vote Voting booth Voting slip
W
Work-Life Balance Directive World Congress
Abuse

Abuse is when someone treats you badly.
This can be that the person shouts at you.
This can also be that the person hurts you or is violent in another way.

Accessibility Act

Every country in the European Union
must respect the Accessibility Act.

For example:

smartphones,

computers,

e-books,

ticketing machines

travels by bus or train.

The Accessibility Act is good for people with disabilities
and also for older people.

It is good because it makes things more accessible
to them.

It is also good for people with disabilities looking for a job.

It can get them a job in testing products and services
to say if they are accessible.

The Accessibility Act is also good for companies.

They do not need to follow different laws in different countries anymore.

Now there is one law for the entire European Union.

This makes things easier for companies.

Accessible

Something that is easy to use for people with disabilities.
Such as:

Ramps to get into a building.

Information in easy-to-read.

Information in sign language.

Ballot box

A ballot box is a box
where people put theirvoting slip
when theyvote.

Board of Directors

CERMI

CERMI is the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities.
We call it CERMI for short.

Chair

The person in charge of a meeting or of an organisation.

Civil Rights

Civil rights are rights that all people in a country have.

Commissioner at the European Commission

Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe

The Commissioner for Human Rights is part of the Council of Europe.
The Commissioner makes sure people understand and respecthuman rights.
The Commissioner visits the countries who take part in the Council of Europe,
to talk to people about human rights.

Complex Support Needs

Complex support needs are when a person with disabilities needs help in different and complicated ways.

Constitution

The constitution of an organisation is a text that says several things about an organisation,
for example:

the goals of the organisation

who can become a member

how the people in the organisation work together and make decisions.

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe is an organisation made up different European countries.

It has 47 members.

The Council of Europe works for human rights and equality for all in Europe.

The Council of Europe does not make laws.
It can just make countries follow some international agreements.

Council of the European Union

They meet to adopt laws and talk about politics in the European Union.

The Council of the European Union is also called
Council of Ministers.

Culture

Culture is the ideas and behaviour of a group of people.
These ideas are shown through art, music, theatre, food and other things.
All these things are part of a culture.

Deinstitutionalisation

Deinstitutionalisation is helping people to move out of institutions.

Disability High Level Group

The Disability High Level Group is a group of experts.

It wants to make sure that different people work together well.

This concerns these people:

people who work for the European Commission

people who work for the member states of the European Union

people who work for organisations who fight for the rights of persons with disabilities

Discrimination

Discrimination means that you are treated worse than others or
that you do not get the chances you deserve.

It is discrimination when it happens because of your disability.

It can also happen to other people.
For example, people who have a different skin colour.
Or older people.

Easy-to-read

It is important to use simple words and sentences.
If there are words that are difficult to understand, an explanation is provided.

The text needs to be clear to see,
for example, black writing on a white background is good.
It needs to be well-spaced.

Easy-to-read often uses pictures to explain what the text talks about.

Someone with an intellectual disability needs to
check the information is easy to understand.

Easy-to-read documents often have this logo,
so it is easier to find them.

There are rules on how easy-to-read should be done.
You can read the European standards of easy-to-read information here.

Educate

Educate means to teach.
It means to make sure people have access to training so they can learn new skills.

EEG

EEG is short for the "European Expert Group
on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care".

The EEG is a group of people
who work on getting people out ofinstitutions
and into the community.

They tell the EU and the countries in Europe
what they must do so people canlive independently.

Elect

Elect means to decide who you want to stand for you
and make decisions that have an impact on you.

Election

Electoral List

All the candidates of a party
are on an electoral list.

The people who are on top
have the best chance
to beelected.

Employ

Employ means to hire someone to do a job.

Empower

Empowerment means becoming stronger.
It means becoming able to stand up for yourself.

EPSA

We call it EPSA for short.

It is a part of Inclusion Europe.

European Commission

The European Commission works with the European Parliament.

It also makes sure that the laws that have been decided upon
are being followed by the member states.

European Court of Human Rights

A court is a place where a judge
decides how to put the law into practice.

The European Court of Human Rights
makes sure every European country respects human rights.

Human Rights are the rights that every person should have.
For example, the right to live.
Or the right to speak your mind.

European Day of Persons with Disabilities

The European Day of Persons with Disabilities
is a big event that takes place every year.

It is a day organised by the European Commission
and theEuropean Disability Forum.

European Disability Forum

The European Disability Forum is an organisation of people with disabilities in Europe.
In short, we call it EDF.

EDF was created by people with disabilities in 1996.

EDF works to protect the rights of people with disabilities in Europe.

EDF is based in Brussels in Belgium.

European Disability Strategy

The European Disability Strategy is an important text.

It says what the European Union has to do
to make sure people with disabilities in Europe get the same rights as everyone else.

European Economic and Social Committee

The European Economic and Social Committee
is called the 'EESC' for short.

Civil society is made up of groups and organisations
that represent citizens with different interests.

European elections

The European elections take place every 5 years.
The last European elections were in May 2019.

European Network for Independent Living

The European Network for Independent Living is an organisation
that works for independent living
for people with disabilities in Europe.

We call it ENIL for short.

European Parliament

The European Parliament is a place where important decisions
of theEuropean Union are made.
For example: laws.

The Members of the European Parliament (in short, MEPs) make these decisions
and speak for all the people who live in the European Union.

Every five years, the people who live in the European Union vote for their country's MEPs.

European Parliament for Persons with Disabilities

The European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities
is a big gathering of people with disabilities from all over Europe.

At this event, they talk about what they want in life.

They talk about the problems they have as people with disabilities.

The European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities takes place in Brussels in Belgium.

It takes place every five years.

European Pillar of Social Rights

The European Pillar of Social Rights is an important text.

For example:

in getting an education

in choosing their job

not to be left out if you have a disability

access to the best services for everyone

not to be left out when you are old.

These rules help everyone in Europe
to be part of the community.

European Solidarity Corps

Solidarity means helping other people.
Especially people you don't know.

Many young people want to help other people.
The European Solidarity Corps tells them
where they can go to help.

On the website of the European Solidarity Corps
the young people can find out
where their help is needed.

They can help for free or also get money.
The European Solidarity Corps is a project
of theEuropean Union.

European Union

The European Union (in short, EU) is a group of 27 countries.
We call these countries "member states".
They have joined together to be stronger politically and economically.

The EU makes laws on many important things for the people who live in those countries.
The EU makes laws in different areas. Some examples are:

Laws to protect the environment.

Laws for farmers.

Laws to protect consumers.
A consumer is someone who buys things.

The EU also makes laws that are important for people with disabilities.

For example, the Accessibility Act.

It also made a law that gives people with disabilities more rights
when they are travelling.

The EU also gives money to its member states.

Some of this money is used for people with disabilities.

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
is an organisation working for theEuropean Union.
We call it FRA for short.
FRA makes sure
that the rights of all people living in the European Union
are respected.

General Comment

A General Comment is when an organisation like the United Nations
explains the different words and ideas that they use.

Government

A government is a group of people
that make decisions on how to run a country.
For example,
* about where the money is spent,
* about public transport,
* about schools,
* about hospitals.

Guardianship

Hashtag

You can write a word after the hashtag symbol.

If you click on that word,
you will be taken to all the messages
that have to do with that word.

For example:

If you write #inclusion and you click on it,
you will be taken to all the messages
that have to do with inclusion.

If you write #EuropeanUnion and you click on it,
you will be taken to all the messages
that have to do with theEuropean Union.

If you write #HearOurVoices and you click on it,
you will be taken to all the messages
that have to do withHear Our Voices.

Human Rights

Human Rights are the rights that every person should have.
For example, the right to live.
Or the right to speak your mind.

Inclusion Europe

Inclusion Europe is an organisation of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.
We fight for their equal rights and inclusion in Europe.
We also want to make a difference to the laws in Europe.

We started in 1988.

We have 79 members in 39 European countries.

We are based in Brussels in Belgium.

Inclusion International

Inclusion International is an organisation
for people withintellectual disabilities and their families.
It fights for their equal rights and inclusion in all aspects of life.

It started over 50 years ago.

It has 200 members in 115 countries all over the world.

Inclusion International is based in London in the United Kingdom.

Inclusive education, training, employment

Independent living

They also can:

choose with whom and where to live

decide how they want to spend their time

have the same experiences as all other people

Institutions

They live apart from other people.
This is what we call "segregated".
Sometimes this happens against their will.

People who live in institutions have to follow the rules of the institution
and cannot decide for themselves.

Intellectual disability

People with intellectual disabilities often need support
in learning or at work.

Intellectual disability often starts before you are an adult.
It affects you for your whole life.

Some people say learning disabilities instead of intellectual disabilities.

Legal capacity

Capacity is when you can make a decision or choice at one moment.
There are laws about how to decide if someone has capacity.
Then it is called legal capacity.
Legal capacity means that people withintellectual disabilities can do things on their own.

This is what they can do:

Make choices about their lives.

Get married, start a family and raise children.

Sign contracts (also work contracts).

Have a bank account.

Control their money and property.

Make decisions about their health.

Take part in politics and have the right to vote.

Manifesto

A manifesto is a text that explains the goals of a person or an organisation.
It is often made before anelection
by a person or organisation that wants to be elected.

Some manifestos are also done organisations
to tell the candidates for the elections about
what they think is important.

Everyone can read a manifesto.

Mental Health Europe

Mental Health Europe is an organisation
that works on the topic of mental health.

Mental health means how healthy your mind is.

Mental Health Europe represents people who have problems with their mental health
and people who work with mental health.

It is based in Brussels in Belgium.

MEPs

The members of the European Parliament
are thepoliticians who sit
in the European Parliament.
We call them MEPs for short.

NGO

NGO is short for Non-governmental organisation.
NGOs are groups of people that work together.
These groups are not connected with the government of any country.
NGOs are often non-profit organisations.
That means, they are trying to do something other
than make money for the people who run them.

Personal Assistance

Personal assistance is when you get support
that is made for you only.

Political party

A political party is a group of people who think the country should be run in a certain way.

Politician

Someone who helps run the country or part of the country.
Or someone who would like to do this.

Politicians, for example, are

Politics

Running the country, or part of the country.

Polling station

A polling station is a building
that is used forvoting
during theelections.

Often, it is a school.

Procuration

Rape

Rape is when someone forces another person to have sex with them.

Referendum

A referendum is when you give your opinion
on an important topic for your country.
You do it by going to
the voting station,
like for the elections.

Segregation

Segregation is when someone is set apart from others for an unfair reason.
For example, because of their disability.

Self-Advocacy

Self-advocacy is when people with intellectual disabilities speak up for themselves.

These people are called self-advocates.

Social Media

Social media is made up of websites and apps that let you create and share content.
For example, photos, videos and information.

Apps is short for applications.
These are tools that let you use social media on a mobile phone or tablet.

Spitzenkandidat

A spitzenkandidat is a candidate
that a European party chooses
as their best candidate.

This means that if that party wins
at theEuropean elections
this person
will become president of theEuropean Commission.

Strategy

A strategy is a plan with goals for the future.
The strategy also says how these goals will be reached.

Supported decision making

This is what they can get support with:

make choices about their lives

start a family and raise children

sign contracts (also working contracts)

have a bank account

control their money and property

make decisions about their health

take part in politics and have the right to vote

UN CRPD

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (in short, UN CRPD)
is an important document.

It tries to make sure that the rights of people with disabilities are respected.

UN CRPD Committee

The United Nations Committee
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
is a group of people.

This group of people checks what countries do
to make sure the rights of persons with disabilities are respected.

We call it CRPD Committee for short.

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organisation.
It work for peace and security everywhere in the world.

We call it the UN for short.

The UN is based in different places.
For example, it is in New York, in the United States of America.

And in Geneva, in Switzerland.

Vote

Voting means choosing
thepoliticians who represent us
and make decisions for us.

You can vote in different areas.
For example:

* in your town or city
when you elect a new mayor
* in your country
when you elect a new president
* or at theEuropean elections,
when you choose the new
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Voting booth

Voting slip

A voting slip is a paper
that people are given
when they go tovote.

On the voting slip
you write who you are voting for.

Work-Life Balance Directive

Work-life balance means having time
to do things outside of work.

The European Union has done a law about it.
It is called the work-life balance directive.

This law is very important.

With the new law,
they would be able to get more time off work
to support their family members.

The law is also important
for parents with intellectual disabilities.

They also need to have more time
for their children.

World Congress

It is a big event for self-advocates,
their families and for people who work
with people withintellectual disabilities.

Our work brings the voice of people with intellectual disabilities and their families where decisions about their future are made.

This has always been incredibly important. It is even more so with the Covid pandemic drastic impact on their rights and lives.

Being visible and vocal on issues directly affecting millions of people requires your support.

Become Inclusion Europe supporter and help us keep doing our work.

Here you can find explanations of some words in easy-to-read.

Click on the word to read its explanation.

Do you know how to explain a word in an easier way?

Contact us at secretariat@inclusion-europe.org and let us know!

A

B

C
Commissioner at the European Commission Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe Council of the European Union
D
Deinstitutionalisation Disability High Level Group
E
European Court of Human Rights European Day of Persons with Disabilities European Disability Forum European Disability Strategy European Economic and Social Committee European Network for Independent Living European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities European Pillar of Social Rights European Solidarity Corps European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
G

H

I
Inclusion International Inclusive education, training, employment Intellectual disability
L
Legal capacity
M
Manifesto Mental Health Europe MEPs
N
NGO
P
Personal Assistance
R

S
Supported decision making
U

V

W
Work-Life Balance Directive
Abuse

Abuse is when someone treats you badly.
This can be that the person shouts at you.
This can also be that the person hurts you or is violent in another way.

Accessibility Act

Every country in the European Union
must respect the Accessibility Act.

For example:

smartphones,

computers,

e-books,

ticketing machines

travels by bus or train.

The Accessibility Act is good for people with disabilities
and also for older people.

It is good because it makes things more accessible
to them.

It is also good for people with disabilities looking for a job.

It can get them a job in testing products and services
to say if they are accessible.

The Accessibility Act is also good for companies.

They do not need to follow different laws in different countries anymore.

Now there is one law for the entire European Union.

This makes things easier for companies.

Accessible

Something that is easy to use for people with disabilities.
Such as:

Ramps to get into a building.

Information in easy-to-read.

Information in sign language.

Ballot box

Board of Directors

CERMI

CERMI is the Spanish Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities.
We call it CERMI for short.

Chair

The person in charge of a meeting or of an organisation.

Civil Rights

Civil rights are rights that all people in a country have.

Commissioner at the European Commission

Commissioner for Human Rights at the Council of Europe

The Commissioner for Human Rights is part of the Council of Europe.
The Commissioner makes sure people understand and respecthuman rights.
The Commissioner visits the countries who take part in the Council of Europe,
to talk to people about human rights.

Complex Support Needs

Complex support needs are when a person with disabilities needs help in different and complicated ways.

Constitution

The constitution of an organisation is a text that says several things about an organisation,
for example:

the goals of the organisation

who can become a member

how the people in the organisation work together and make decisions.

Council of Europe

The Council of Europe is an organisation made up different European countries.

It has 47 members.

The Council of Europe works for human rights and equality for all in Europe.

The Council of Europe does not make laws.
It can just make countries follow some international agreements.

Council of the European Union

They meet to adopt laws and talk about politics in the European Union.

The Council of the European Union is also called
Council of Ministers.

Culture

Culture is the ideas and behaviour of a group of people.
These ideas are shown through art, music, theatre, food and other things.
All these things are part of a culture.

Deinstitutionalisation

Deinstitutionalisation is helping people to move out of institutions.

Disability High Level Group

The Disability High Level Group is a group of experts.

It wants to make sure that different people work together well.

This concerns these people:

people who work for the European Commission

people who work for the member states of the European Union

people who work for organisations who fight for the rights of persons with disabilities

Discrimination

Discrimination means that you are treated worse than others or
that you do not get the chances you deserve.

It is discrimination when it happens because of your disability.

It can also happen to other people.
For example, people who have a different skin colour.
Or older people.

Easy-to-read

It is important to use simple words and sentences.
If there are words that are difficult to understand, an explanation is provided.

The text needs to be clear to see,
for example, black writing on a white background is good.
It needs to be well-spaced.

Easy-to-read often uses pictures to explain what the text talks about.

Someone with an intellectual disability needs to
check the information is easy to understand.

Easy-to-read documents often have this logo,
so it is easier to find them.

There are rules on how easy-to-read should be done.
You can read the European standards of easy-to-read information here.

Educate

Educate means to teach.
It means to make sure people have access to training so they can learn new skills.

EEG

EEG is short for the "European Expert Group
on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care".

The EEG is a group of people
who work on getting people out ofinstitutions
and into the community.

They tell the EU and the countries in Europe
what they must do so people canlive independently.

Elect

Elect means to decide who you want to stand for you
and make decisions that have an impact on you.

Election

Electoral List

All the candidates of a party
are on an electoral list.

The people who are on top
have the best chance
to beelected.

Employ

Employ means to hire someone to do a job.

Empower

Empowerment means becoming stronger.
It means becoming able to stand up for yourself.

EPSA

We call it EPSA for short.

It is a part of Inclusion Europe.

European Commission

The European Commission works with the European Parliament.

It also makes sure that the laws that have been decided upon
are being followed by the member states.

European Court of Human Rights

A court is a place where a judge
decides how to put the law into practice.

The European Court of Human Rights
makes sure every European country respects human rights.

Human Rights are the rights that every person should have.
For example, the right to live.
Or the right to speak your mind.

European Day of Persons with Disabilities

The European Day of Persons with Disabilities
is a big event that takes place every year.

It is a day organised by the European Commission
and theEuropean Disability Forum.

European Disability Forum

The European Disability Forum is an organisation of people with disabilities in Europe.
In short, we call it EDF.

EDF was created by people with disabilities in 1996.

EDF works to protect the rights of people with disabilities in Europe.

EDF is based in Brussels in Belgium.

European Disability Strategy

The European Disability Strategy is an important text.

It says what the European Union has to do
to make sure people with disabilities in Europe get the same rights as everyone else.

European Economic and Social Committee

The European Economic and Social Committee
is called the 'EESC' for short.

Civil society is made up of groups and organisations
that represent citizens with different interests.

European elections

The European elections take place every 5 years.
The last European elections were in May 2019.

European Network for Independent Living

The European Network for Independent Living is an organisation
that works for independent living
for people with disabilities in Europe.

We call it ENIL for short.

European Parliament

The European Parliament is a place where important decisions
of theEuropean Union are made.
For example: laws.

The Members of the European Parliament (in short, MEPs) make these decisions
and speak for all the people who live in the European Union.

Every five years, the people who live in the European Union vote for their country's MEPs.

European Parliament for Persons with Disabilities

The European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities
is a big gathering of people with disabilities from all over Europe.

At this event, they talk about what they want in life.

They talk about the problems they have as people with disabilities.

The European Parliament of Persons with Disabilities takes place in Brussels in Belgium.

It takes place every five years.

European Pillar of Social Rights

The European Pillar of Social Rights is an important text.

For example:

in getting an education

in choosing their job

not to be left out if you have a disability

access to the best services for everyone

not to be left out when you are old.

These rules help everyone in Europe
to be part of the community.

European Solidarity Corps

Solidarity means helping other people.
Especially people you don't know.

Many young people want to help other people.
The European Solidarity Corps tells them
where they can go to help.

On the website of the European Solidarity Corps
the young people can find out
where their help is needed.

They can help for free or also get money.
The European Solidarity Corps is a project
of the .

European Union

The European Union (in short, EU) is a group of 27 countries.
We call these countries "member states".
They have joined together to be stronger politically and economically.

The EU makes laws on many important things for the people who live in those countries.
The EU makes laws in different areas. Some examples are:

Laws to protect the environment.

Laws for farmers.

Laws to protect consumers.
A consumer is someone who buys things.

The EU also makes laws that are important for people with disabilities.

For example, the Accessibility Act.

It also made a law that gives people with disabilities more rights
when they are travelling.

The EU also gives money to its member states.

Some of this money is used for people with disabilities.

European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
is an organisation working for theEuropean Union.
We call it FRA for short.
FRA makes sure
that the rights of all people living in the European Union
are respected.

General Comment

A General Comment is when an organisation like the United Nations
explains the different words and ideas that they use.

Government

A government is a group of people
that make decisions on how to run a country.
For example,
* about where the money is spent,
* about public transport,
* about schools,
* about hospitals.

Guardianship

Hashtag

You can write a word after the hashtag symbol.

If you click on that word,
you will be taken to all the messages
that have to do with that word.

For example:

If you write #inclusion and you click on it,
you will be taken to all the messages
that have to do with inclusion.

If you write #EuropeanUnion and you click on it,
you will be taken to all the messages
that have to do with theEuropean Union.

If you write #HearOurVoices and you click on it,
you will be taken to all the messages
that have to do withHear Our Voices.

Human Rights

Human Rights are the rights that every person should have.
For example, the right to live.
Or the right to speak your mind.

Inclusion Europe

Inclusion Europe is an organisation of people with intellectual disabilities and their families.
We fight for their equal rights and inclusion in Europe.
We also want to make a difference to the laws in Europe.

We started in 1988.

We have 79 members in 39 European countries.

We are based in Brussels in Belgium.

Inclusion International

Inclusion International is an organisation
for people withintellectual disabilities and their families.
It fights for their equal rights and inclusion in all aspects of life.

It started over 50 years ago.

It has 200 members in 115 countries all over the world.

Inclusion International is based in London in the United Kingdom.

Inclusive education, training, employment

Independent living

They also can:

choose with whom and where to live

decide how they want to spend their time

have the same experiences as all other people

Institutions

They live apart from other people.
This is what we call "segregated".
Sometimes this happens against their will.

People who live in institutions have to follow the rules of the institution
and cannot decide for themselves.

Intellectual disability

People with intellectual disabilities often need support
in learning or at work.

Intellectual disability often starts before you are an adult.
It affects you for your whole life.

Some people say learning disabilities instead of intellectual disabilities.

Legal capacity

Capacity is when you can make a decision or choice at one moment.
There are laws about how to decide if someone has capacity.
Then it is called legal capacity.
Legal capacity means that people withintellectual disabilities can do things on their own.

This is what they can do:

Make choices about their lives.

Get married, start a family and raise children.

Sign contracts (also work contracts).

Have a bank account.

Control their money and property.

Make decisions about their health.

Take part in politics and have the right to vote.

Manifesto

A manifesto is a text that explains the goals of a person or an organisation.
It is often made before an
by a person or organisation that wants to be elected.

Some manifestos are also done organisations
to tell the candidates for the elections about
what they think is important.

Everyone can read a manifesto.

Mental Health Europe

Mental Health Europe is an organisation
that works on the topic of mental health.

Mental health means how healthy your mind is.

Mental Health Europe represents people who have problems with their mental health
and people who work with mental health.

It is based in Brussels in Belgium.

MEPs

The members of the European Parliament
are thepoliticians who sit
in the European Parliament.
We call them MEPs for short.

NGO

NGO is short for Non-governmental organisation.
NGOs are groups of people that work together.
These groups are not connected with the government of any country.
NGOs are often non-profit organisations.
That means, they are trying to do something other
than make money for the people who run them.

Personal Assistance

Personal assistance is when you get support
that is made for you only.

Political party

A political party is a group of people who think the country should be run in a certain way.

Politician

Someone who helps run the country or part of the country.
Or someone who would like to do this.

Politicians, for example, are

Politics

Running the country, or part of the country.

Polling station

A polling station is a building
that is used forvoting
during the .

Often, it is a school.

Procuration

Rape

Rape is when someone forces another person to have sex with them.

Referendum

A referendum is when you give your opinion
on an important topic for your country.
You do it by going to
the voting station,
like for the elections.

Segregation

Segregation is when someone is set apart from others for an unfair reason.
For example, because of their disability.

Self-Advocacy

Self-advocacy is when people with intellectual disabilities speak up for themselves.

These people are called self-advocates.

Social Media

Social media is made up of websites and apps that let you create and share content.
For example, photos, videos and information.

Apps is short for applications.
These are tools that let you use social media on a mobile phone or tablet.

Spitzenkandidat

A spitzenkandidat is a candidate
that a European party chooses
as their best candidate.

This means that if that party wins
at theEuropean elections
this person
will become president of theEuropean Commission.

Strategy

A strategy is a plan with goals for the future.
The strategy also says how these goals will be reached.

Supported decision making

This is what they can get support with:

make choices about their lives

start a family and raise children

sign contracts (also working contracts)

have a bank account

control their money and property

make decisions about their health

take part in politics and have the right to vote

UN CRPD

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (in short, UN CRPD)
is an important document.

It tries to make sure that the rights of people with disabilities are respected.

UN CRPD Committee

The United Nations Committee
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
is a group of people.

This group of people checks what countries do
to make sure the rights of persons with disabilities are respected.

We call it CRPD Committee for short.

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organisation.
It work for peace and security everywhere in the world.

We call it the UN for short.

The UN is based in different places.
For example, it is in New York, in the United States of America.

And in Geneva, in Switzerland.

Vote

Voting means choosing
thepoliticians who represent us
and make decisions for us.

You can vote in different areas.
For example:

* in your town or city
when you elect a new mayor
* in your country
when you elect a new president
* or at theEuropean elections,
when you choose the new
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs).

Voting booth

Voting slip

A voting slip is a paper
that people are given
when they go tovote.

On the voting slip
you write who you are voting for.

Work-Life Balance Directive

Work-life balance means having time
to do things outside of work.

The European Union has done a law about it.
It is called the work-life balance directive.

This law is very important.

With the new law,
they would be able to get more time off work
to support their family members.

The law is also important
for parents with intellectual disabilities.

They also need to have more time
for their children.

World Congress

It is a big event for self-advocates,
their families and for people who work
with people withintellectual disabilities.

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Our work brings the voice of people with intellectual disabilities and their families where decisions about their future are made. This has always been incredibly important. It is even more so with the Covid pandemic drastic impact on their rights and lives. Being visible and vocal on issues directly affecting millions of people requires your...

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Supporting learners with ASD during lockdown

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Supporting learners with ASD during lockdown

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Kindly shared by Kirsty Walker from City of Liverpool College

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Dyslexic student achieves first-class honours degree

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Dyslexic student achieves first-class honours degree

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Sky news 2/3/21

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A student who could not read until he was 13 has just earned a first-class honours university degree and is planning a career in academia and politics.

William Carter, now 22, has severe dyslexia and dyspraxia, and was put in the bottom set in all subjects at primary school and teased because he could not read.

He was referred to children's mental health services due to feeling lonely after falling behind other pupils and being unable to participate in lessons.

Mr Carter, who received free school meals, was then sent on courses to prevent him from becoming a criminal when his school attendance fell.

He tried desperately to learn how to read and write at secondary school but was again put in bottom sets throughout his education there.

He was eventually seen by a specialist, who gave him a diagnosis of severe dyslexia, which lead to a remarkable turnaround that saw him achieve high A-level results and be awarded the London Schools and the Black Child outstanding achievement award.

Mr Carter has now graduated from the University of Bristol with a first-class honours degree in politics and international relations.

He said that learning how to read and write "made the world more intelligible to me and, ultimately, made me more intelligible to the world".

"Fundamentally, dyslexia made me who I am today," he added.

He said he felt his role at school was to keep quiet in order to let the "more intelligent" pupils to learn.

"The fact that I, through luck and the support of others, 'made it' in spite of social-economic barriers shouldn't justify our system and society," he continued.

"Instead, it should challenge its core assumption - the false idea that those few who succeed are examples of a system working rather than a system in disrepair."

Mr Carter said he plans to spend his career in academia, then politics before "turning this observation into actionable policies and politics".

During his time at Bristol University, Mr Carter attended conferences around the world, spoke at the European Parliament and received several awards for his academic performance.

He and his academic adviser Dr Jonathan Floyd began planning an initiative to get political theory taught more widely in UK secondary schools.

They met with lords, MPs, educators and government officials to seek support for the scheme, which they hope to launch soon.

Mr Carter is now studying for a PhD in political geography at the University of California, Berkley, where he received a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship.

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Dyslexic student who couldn't read until aged 13 achieves first-class honours degree

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A student who could not read until he was 13 has just earned a first-class honours university degree and is planning a career in academia and politics. William Carter, now 22, has severe dyslexia and dyspraxia, and was put in the bottom set in all subjects at primary school and teased because he could not read.

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Just asking each learner how they are can start communication dialogue as many learners are not asked about themselves.  Some may share, which opens up discussion and possible recognition that others feel the same.  Building a supportive classroom environment. Learners then begin to ask others over time.

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Secure Estate

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7 September

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Angela Duckworth

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Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

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Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance [Duckworth, Angela] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

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I don't want to spoil this for you - it's such a good read... you will see which area of SEND it refers to (it's not what you might expect from the title). Enjoy!

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This is a guest blog from Jo Byrne a member of the marvelous Claire Collins team. It's beautiful, funny and wise in it's own right, but maybe someone else will recognise themself and book their own appointment. Over to Jo:

Way back in July 2018 I embarked on a project with Claire Collins Consultancy Ltd and the UCL Institute of Education to design and pilot phonics approaches for post-16 learners (see Bit.ly/Post16Phonics). We had a cross team residential to kick start the project and this is where my journey began.

Having never understood phonics in the past and being the only non-literacy expert in the room, I was a little scared yet straight away everyone made me feel valued and part of the team and they all decided to check potential resources out on me first as I was potentially the audience the toolkit was being designed for.

They all very quickly got used to 'I don't get this' and patiently explained and adapted until I did, which worked really well until they asked me to do activities that involved listening to sounds and identifying the differences between phonemes and we all hit a wall.

I remember one colleague sitting next to me with an activity where we had to put sounds made by the grapheme /ea/ into columns and I just couldn't understand what I had to do and my lovely colleague kept going 'UR UR UR' (that is what it sounded like to me anyway) whilst trying to explain the activity to me and I am just sitting there trying not to laugh thinking; 'OMG what is she doing?'

My other colleagues were scratching their heads wondering what on earth was going on when they said; "Have you ever had your hearing tested?" followed by; "I think you need to have your hearing tested" so, being the obedient type of girl I am, I promptly took myself off to Specsavers.

Specsavers declared I had moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears, which is not in their opinion age related and that I needed to be referred to the ear nose and throat (ENT) department at the hospital so they could find out what was going on. They said that they suspected I have always had this. They also said I wouldn't understand phonics because I don't hear over half of the sounds.

Relief washed through me as I was beginning to worry that I wasn't clever enough to understand phonics but I decided that I didn't need to go ENT as, surprisingly, I was not a fan of noise anyway and their diagnosis was just fine by me.

But of course it got me thinking, and more importantly it got my family, friends and colleagues thinking: 'This must be why you don't hear the cooker bleeping? Or the doorbell?' Then I had the realisation that I don't ignore people when they ring, I just don't hear it and also why when I do hear it, I can't hear the person speaking very well. So I decided to get a house phone and a doorbell for the hard of hearing as I felt they would benefit me.

My life suddenly improved; I was no longer on edge waiting for deliveries, I could hear the new doorbell and I loved it! I suddenly knew when people came to the door. Throughout my life, I have had an open-door policy so, rather than knock, friends and family would just come in and the postman, bless him, knew to bang on my window and wave. However, the amount of complaints I have made to various delivery organisations over the years telling them how disgusted I was that they pushed that little card through saying I wasn't in when I was does make me feel a little bad! As for the new phone, well what can I say, initially this did make me slightly angry because they seem to only do very basic house phones for the hard of hearing and I felt like my phone upgrade was really a relic from 20 years ago BUT I loved it and have over the last year or so become quite the chatterbox and will happily pick the phone up to ring family, friends and colleagues (much to their annoyance) because, as soon as I press the little button that makes it all 40 db higher, I can hear everything.

However, a little knowledge is rather powerful and suddenly you know why things happen and, more importantly, others around you are more aware.

I quickly used my hearing as an excuse and everyone fully accepted my excuses. I have always muddled my words up and some words I simply cannot pronounce correctly. For example, a new word entered my vocabulary some months back; 'competencies'. My tongue gets all twisted and it cannot come out correctly. In meetings, rather than feeling dumb, I would just say; 'I have a hearing impairment.' In meetings and events, rather than straining to hear or pretending to hear, I would just sit back and say; 'I have a hearing impairment.'

Family, friends and colleagues also started realising that I didn't hear them in group conversations, and that I just pretended to and they started adapting to me. For example, my best friend brought a mic to use at events so that I could hear. I was a bit shocked and said; 'Why do you think I want to hear, I don't even like noise and I like my quiet life!' but she persevered and made me hear and a bit of me enjoyed it if truth be told.

I started to feel a little guilty, everyone around me was adapting but I wasn't. In fact, I was behaving like Lou Mycroft's folded arms brigade (FAB)! (see https://pdnorth.org.uk/2018/08/29/fab-opening-the-arms/) So I decided maybe I would go to the doctors and visit the ENT department and see what they had to say.

Surprisingly, ENT confirmed that I did indeed have moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears and declared that I needed hearing aids. I said that I wasn't keen on them as I didn't like noise but could accept that they would be useful if I was at events, meetings and social gatherings. They then surprised me and said; 'Well, actually, you need them all of the time for your own quality of life.' They explained that there are so many sounds out there that I was missing out on.

I agreed, although secretly decided I was only wearing the hearing aids at events, meetings and social gatherings but I was curious about which sounds I wasn't hearing. However, my 'FAB' side decided they obviously were not worth hearing so I wasn't really missing out.

I reluctantly went to my appointment to have them fitted and, after a bit of impressive testing, the nurse put the hearing aids in my ears and warned me she was turning them on. Then she handed me a piece of paper with the care instructions on.

Paper... I must have stared at that piece of paper with a bewildered look on my face because the nurse got quite tearful and said; 'Yes Jo, paper makes a noise!' and she scrunched it up. I was in total shock. I never knew paper made a noise and such a beautiful noise at that. I decided there and then these hearing aids were never coming out and I really need them. It was at that moment Post-16 Phonics well and truly changed my life.

Teeth... My very excited granddaughter ran around Tesco's tapping everything saying; 'Can you hear this Grandma? Can you hear this?' I was like; 'Yes I can hear everything darling.' Then, she scratched a display and I almost had a meltdown in the aisle. The noise made my teeth funny. I was like; 'OMG. what on earth are you doing, please don't do that again!', in between nearly laughing and crying at the same time. It felt so weird and it was not a nice feeling (I can imagine it now) and then I realised that I had experienced what people claim blackboards and chalk does to them.

My life has become lots of moments of first-time experiences.

Water... now I knew water made a noise BUT not the noise I could now hear and my brain keeps filling up with describing words that I had been taught as a child. Crystals is how I would describe water, it is like tiny crystals hitting the surface and I find myself smiling whenever I have to flush the loo, it is such a wonderful sound.

Peeing... I went in to a communal toilet at an event and realised I could hear others having a pee. I sort of sniggered to myself like a 4-year-old and went to the cubicle for a wee. Whilst sitting there, it dawned on me that if I could hear others, that meant that they could hear me. Feeling a little bit mortified, I ran back to the room and asked my bestie if it everyone could hear people pee, she started laughing and said; 'Yes Jo, we can hear you pee.' 😊

Frost... it crunches under your feet. I can't wait for it to snow and I am excited about walking on the beach.

Now don't get me wrong, it is not all unicorns and rainbows. I have no background noise at the moment; everything is right at the front of my head swirling around and bombarding my brain. When I get tired, my fingers and toes cringe at sensations such as carpet and toilet paper as they now feel alien to me (it must be a combination of feel but with sound and my senses being overloaded) but I am sure this will all go away as I get used to them. I can also hear stuff that isn't nice, such as people sniffing, which is very annoying yet realised I sniff away when I have a cold or hayfever so I must be also be annoying. Trains passing by or setting off in stations send my whole body into a complete shiver they are so loud. And my ears itch, boy do they itch, so whilst I am bouncing around life enjoying all these new things, there are also at least 7 or 8 times a day when I just want to rip them out of my ears.

Regrets... my poor parents are beating themselves up because they wish they had picked it up when I was young and I am like; 'How could any of us have known 50 years ago that I didn't hear things like paper?' I was never going to say; 'Mummy, Daddy did you know I can't hear some stuff?' I didn't know so how could they?

On reflection, I do think my saving grace as a child may have been my brother. When he first started school, he had an American tutor on placement and she immediately picked up that he was dyslexic, and she fought really hard to get him one to one support and trained Mum how to help him, not only with spelling but with his speech as he couldn't pronounce words correctly. (OMG, as I am writing this I wonder if he also needs to go Specsavers). I can remember having to repeat over and over 'little' and 'hospital' (I pronounced it 'likkle' and 'hospikal') with my brother and most days after school were spent practising reading and speaking with him and Mum. In hindsight, I can only think that this must have helped me immensely.

Another saving grace I think was my Grandma. Grandma was from Ireland and spoke in a thick Southern Irish County Cork accent and I never ever understood a word she said, but she demanded that I sit and listen to all of her stories and boy could she talk and Grandma would also slap me around the head if I didn't listen to her, so I quickly learnt to be an active listener and nod and shake my head as if I was hanging on to every word she said, although I still got a wallop if I agreed to something I should have disagreed too.

Realisations...I refuse to drive anywhere without the window open, yet today in the car I realised it is noisy and distracting and actually closed the window. My poor family have had to put up with that all my driving life.

And as I am writing this, I have just realised that the clock in my living room ticks. I thought it was a silent one.

It is like seeing the world around me in a new way and it is soooooo exciting.

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Guest Blog: Post-16 Phonics Changed my Life

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This is a guest blog from Jo Byrne a member of the marvelous Claire Collins team. It's beautiful, funny and wise in it's own right, but maybe someone else will recognise themself and book their own appointment.

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Mental health support for young people

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ETF Poster

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World Duchenne Organisation

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September 9, 2022 Nottwil, Switzerland

Duchenne-Konferenz Schweiz

Wir lassen Fachpersonen, Betroffene, Eltern und Geschwister zu Wort kommen und freuen uns auf eine informative Konferenz mit Raum für Gespräche, Austausch und Vernetzung.

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September 9, 2022 Nottwil, Switzerland Wir lassen Fachpersonen, Betroffene, Eltern und Geschwister zu Wort kommen und freuen uns auf eine informative Konferenz mit Raum für Gespräche, Austausch und Vernetzung.

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Activity Alliance

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Inclusive Fitness Initiative (IFI) Gyms in UK | Activity Alliance

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Find your nearest IFI accredited leisure facility today. Activity Alliance (previously known as EFDS) want to get more disabled people physically active.

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Re-think mental illness

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Jamie & Lion

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I'm Jamie, and this is Lion. We are an autistic duo who focus on using technology to make the lives of autistic people better.

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How iPhone 12's Lidar and AI help me navigate the street as a blind person

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How iPhone 12's Lidar and AI help me navigate the street as a blind person

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BBC news

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Technology that can describe the environment around it can be life-changing for blind people or those who have sight loss.

Apple's iPhone 12 Pro uses a Lidar (light detection and ranging) sensor and artificial intelligence to enable users to identify objects and detect how close people are to other people around them.

In the age of the coronavirus pandemic where maintaining social distancing is important, such technology could prove particularly useful.

Blind reporter Lucy Edwards tries the technology on her local high street for BBC Click.

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iPhone helps me navigate the street without sight

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Technology that can describe the environment around it can be life-changing for blind people or those who have sight loss. Apple's iPhone 12 Pro uses a Lidar (light detection and ranging) sensor and artificial intelligence to enable users to identify objects and detect how close people are to other people around them.

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Sara Novic

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Before the pandemic, my husband and I would often meet our friends for a beer at the weekend. For many, grabbing a drink with friends is the epitome of a relaxing evening. But for deaf people in a hearing crowd, a pub can be a perfect storm of bad lighting, loud background noise and full mouths that make communication difficult. Sometimes, I enjoy myself and my friends, and I try to ensure that I can understand the conversation. But sometimes I am not in the mood for this work. I stare at my beer, let my eyes glaze over. I am there, but not there.

Deaf people have a term for the isolation that grows out of being surrounded by non-signing hearing people: 'Dinner Table Syndrome'.

The dinner table, a symbol of family life and bonding in popular hearing culture, often represents loneliness and inaccessibility to deaf people. In the UK and US, 90% of deaf children are born to hearing parents, and the majority of those families don't learn a signed language to communicate with their child. Dinner Table Syndrome describes the phenomenon in which "deaf people are perpetually left out of conversations", says Dr Leah Geer Zarchy, a deaf associate professor of American Sign Language (ASL) and deaf studies at California State University, Sacramento. "If something is funny and everyone erupts in laughter, the deaf person will lean in to the closest person and ask what was so funny. More often than not they'll be told, 'Oh, it was nothing' or 'I'll tell you later'. Except that later never comes."

Automatic captions can be turned on in recorded video events, but the accuracy of those captions vary from 'close enough' to nonsensical (Credit: Alamy)

Inaccessibility at our literal or metaphorical dinner tables can lead to language loss, or even language deprivation, for deaf children. People learn language and get information not only from direct teaching but also indirect exposure, says Dr Jon Henner, a deaf assistant professor of professions in deafness at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. But with multiple conversants and mouths full of food, the value of speech cues at a dinner table are limited. Family members also tend to move back and forth between topics quickly, making speechreading even more difficult, because there's less contextual information.

The coping mechanism for deaf people at events like these is to disengage. "Often at events like these I would just go off and read," says Henner. "A lot of us have stories like this."

For the deaf community, interactions with non-signing friends, family members and colleagues have always contained barriers. But as our work and social lives have moved almost explicitly online due to the Covid-19 pandemic, these issues are exacerbated. As society develops new virtual means of working and living, deaf people are often left out of the conversation, further widening the inequality gap.
'Emboxed discourse'
In March, when quarantine first began, there was a moment in which some members of the disabled community wondered whether the pandemic might finally be the great equaliser. Neurodiverse people and those with chronic illness were finally being allowed to demonstrate that working outside an office could be just as productive. And, since remote working with children at home meant many adopted flexible or non-traditional working hours, people eschewed phone calls for emails, another relief for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

For my own part, I was a video-conferencing novice, having used Zoom only a handful of times before, and thought technology could actually come to our aid in large-scale conversation settings - could it be that work meetings or trivia nights might now be closed captioned? But video conferencing platforms are actually just another dark bar, another dinner table. However, unlike the table at the pub, disengagement isn't an option as the majority of our lives are now played out on screens.

Dr Julie Hochgesang, deaf associate professor in the linguistics department at Gallaudet University in Washington DC, calls conversations that happen in these video-conferencing spaces "emboxed discourse"- they are shaped by the constraints of our screens. Hochgesang says emboxed discourse settings like Zoom can impede access, not only by perpetuating or worsening the standard "dinner table" barriers, but also creating new problems specifically for signed conversation.

As Hochgesang points out, often these issues aren't bugs or malfunctions, but actual design features: Zoom's auto-focus feature doesn't know whether to focus in on the hands or face, often blurring a signer or causing a flashing-light effect in their background. The jumping of Zoom windows to follow sound does nothing for conversations among signers, and for conversations in which there is a deaf minority using an interpreter, the deaf person must "pin" the interpreter's screen, foregoing the rest of the meetings' participants. Their gestures, facial expressions and funny pet photo-bombs are all lost. At an in-person meeting with an interpreter, one can still see the other participants, but Zoom meetings bring deaf people back to the childhood dinner table, once again deprived of the discourse setting's ambient information.

Video calls can impede access, not only by perpetuating or worsening standard barriers, but also creating new problems specifically for signed conversation (Credit: Alamy)

To caption a live Zoom event, one must get a typist or hire a third-party captioning service. Automatic captions can be turned on in recorded Zoom events, with the accuracy of those captions varying from 'close enough' to nonsensical, with transcriptions botching proper nouns or anything beyond standard conversational English. Like in Geer Zarchy's dinnertime example in which the deaf child is promised to be filled in "later", these retrospective recordings or transcripts often never materialise.

In a world where Zoom happy hours, trivia nights, weddings and birthdays now abound, Dinner Table Syndrome has also cropped up in mixed deaf and hearing company where communication strategies have previously been negotiated. In person, my hearing friends know to tap me on the shoulder to make sure I can see them clearly, to repeat themselves and to write out what I don't understand. Online, though, things move quickly, hearing people cut out and talk over one another and the two-dimensional nature of an emboxed discourse setting makes speechreading even harder. It's also unrealistic to put the financial burden of paid captions on private citizens in a strapped economy. But that doesn't make the feelings of isolation any less painful.

Hochgesang says she worries about that our time spent in emboxed discourse settings might influence accessibility in the future, "that all the hard-won changes we've made in our access and rights as deaf people may be eroded or even lost... [and] that visual and tactile cues will change so much in a way that benefit hearing people and further strand deaf and deaf-blind people".
Change, slowly but surely
In the meantime, deaf people must continue to do the invisible labour of advocating for our right to understand and be understood in these virtual spaces.

Over the past six months, deaf people have worked hard for access. Deaf educational audiologist Tina Childress started the website Connect-Hear to aggregate communication strategies for masked in-person and online interactions with deaf people, including technological workarounds to add captioning or circumvent platforms' "features" detrimental to signed discourse.

The platforms themselves have also made adjustments. While Zoom has yet to incorporate in-house or free captioning, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet have integrated automatic captioning as a part of their platforms. Automatic captions, produced by artificial intelligence programmes, are far from perfect and can lull hearing hosts into a false sense of inclusion, but they are better than nothing. Zoom has made several changes to its paid education platform that allow teachers to pin deaf students (who won't trigger the speaker view) and deaf students to pin both teacher and interpreter, though these are not available to the general public.

For conversations in which there is a deaf minority using an interpreter, the person must "pin" the interpreter's screen, foregoing the rest of the participants (Credit: Alamy)

As we continue the fight for accessibility, one of the best ways a hearing person can be an ally is to take on some of this advocacy work. Asking, "Will this be captioned? Interpreted?" is a valuable reminder that inclusion isn't just for deaf people - it's for everybody. Volunteering to be a typist at a Zoom event, or donating or raising funds so an organiser can pay for third-party captions or an interpreter are also concrete ways to offer support.

Emboxed discourse settings don't have to mean inequity for deaf and hard-of-hearing users. As Hochgesang points out, "deaf people excel at multimodal communication" because we do it daily as we navigate a hearing majority world, and video-conferencing and social networking tools are optimised for that. As it becomes increasingly standard for conversations to flow between verbal and written modalities, and even video, GIF and image-sharing, deaf people have the opportunity to thrive. That is, if hearing people will give us a seat at the table.

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Why 'Dinner Table Syndrome' is getting worse for deaf people

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Before the pandemic, my husband and I would often meet our friends for a beer at the weekend. For many, grabbing a drink with friends is the epitome of a relaxing evening. But for deaf people in a hearing crowd, a pub can be a perfect storm of bad lighting, loud background noise and full mouths that make communication difficult.

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Undiagnosed Learning Difficulties - some thoughts

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Undiagnosed Learning Difficulties - some thoughts

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Some reflections about this topic.

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SEND & Neurodiversity: Approaches to supporting maths and English learners

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SEND & Neurodiversity: Approaches to supporting maths and English learners

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Session One

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SEND and Neurodiversity:  Approaches to supporting English and maths learners

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SEND and Neurodiversity:  Approaches to supporting English and maths learners

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Session 2

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Neurodiversity - notes to support understanding

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Neurodiversity - notes to support understanding

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From the Neurodiversity Paradigm, Nick Walker

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Mind booklet 2017
https://www.mind.org.uk/media-a/2963/anxiety-2017.pdf

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10 October 2020

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Good mental health for all

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Mental Health Foundation | Good mental health for all

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Explore information to help you understand mental health and get advice on how you look after your own mental health or support someone you know with theirs.

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10 October 2020

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Session One - 3 March 2021

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Disability and work (Ehler's Danlos Syndrome)

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Disability and work (Ehler's Danlos Syndrome)

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Hanna Barham-Brown

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Disability and work: Let’s stop wasting talent | Hannah Barham-Brown | TEDxExeter

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SEND & Neurodiversity: approaches to support maths and English learners

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SEND & Neurodiversity: approaches to support maths and English learners

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Session 2 (10 March 2021)

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Part 1

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Part 2

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Excellence Gateway exhibition site

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Special Educational Needs and Disability

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This site brings together some of the most effective materials available on the Excellence Gateway, as well as brand new material. This site will be of interest to teachers, support staff, managers and leaders, working in the FE sector, who want to improve the outcomes for learners with SEND.

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Courtesy of West Suffolk College

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SAVTE Sheffield's ESOL resources to support mental health

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Interactive Poster on Technology & Accessibility

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Interactive Poster on Technology & Accessibility

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Making Technology Work for You - Interactive Poster

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Making Technology Work for You - Interactive Poster

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Infographic on communicating with Dyslexics

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Infographic on communicating with Dyslexics

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Box set of World Mental Health Day Webinars

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Box set of World Mental Health Day Webinars

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Courtesy of Catina

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Welcome back!... and where did September go? The theme of this newsletter is new beginnings and, like you, our three Centres for Excellence in SEND as colleges in their own right, have been working hard to make learners feel welcomed and settled into the sector.

We have our regular features from each of the Centres with their take on new beginnings. The Centre at City College Norwich talk about how they've been using our Promoting Positive Behaviour Guide and occupational standards for learning support with their learning support assistants, which have been really helpful in welcoming learners back. The Centre for Excellence at Derby College talk very thoughtfully about the power of learning and how as teachers, we can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration - well worth a read! And finally, talking of inspiration, our Centre at Weston College talk about their new learner-led communities of practice across the FE sector.

Below you will find a lots of activities for you to join, and in the next newsletter, we will be announcing our new employer spokes to the Centres for Excellence in SEND. We want to make sure that all employers see the benefits that employing our learners can bring to their businesses and the people working within them.

There's no denying this is going to be a really busy term, so do remember to look after yourselves. And our partners at Education Support are there to help if you need to talk. There is also a lot of resources to support you and your learners on the Let's Chat portal .

So that's it for now. If you've received this newsletter from a colleague, do make sure you sign up and don't forget to tick the 'SEND' box.

With very best wishes,

29 September

Emotional recovery and differentiation webinar , CfE in SEND (people). 4:00pm - 5:30pm. The webinar re-introduces the emotional recovery framework and differentiation strategy previously presented and then explores how to implement emotionally authentic differentiation and communication post Covid-19.
4 October
Monthly effective practice and share session in creating an inclusive curriculum specifically for communication support workers and those supporting Deaf learners and learners with hearing loss, CfE in SEND (curriculum), 4:10pm - 4:40pm. This session has a specific focus and is being held for communication support workers and those supporting Deaf learners and learners with hearing loss.
5 October
SEND Curriculum review - Do you want to develop personalised study programmes for learners with inclusion needs/SEND which support their aspirations? Personalising study programmes, Centre for Excellence in SEND (curriculum), 4pm - 4:45pm.
7 October
Monthly effective practice and share session in creating an inclusive curriculum (online), CfE in SEND (curriculum), 4:10pm - 4:40pm. A monthly informal gathering of inclusionists to discuss moving forwards the inclusion agenda in FE.
8 October
Share and Shape - the SEND sector (online) CfE in SEND (community), 10:00am - 11:00am. In these sessions held monthly, we will look at emerging current themes, share effective approaches and ask ourselves 'how might we' to shape ideas together.
13 October
SEND Matters in Derby: beyond the SENCO (webinar series) CFE in SEND (curriculum), 4:00pm - 4:45pm. We will discuss, explore and share the five parts of the Derby City Local Area SEND strategy.
19 October
Vocational profiling with learners: preparing learners for employment (webinar), CFE in SEND (community), 3:00pm - 4:00pm. We will explore what good vocational profiling looks like to prepare learners for adulthood and employment.
21 October
RARPA - developing your SEND curriculum - An introduction to RARPA, Centre for Excellence in SEND (curriculum), 4pm - 4:45pm.

Further information and support

Book in house training

We are offering both in house training on understanding the complexities of high needs and non-high needs funding. Do get in touch for more information. And if there is something that we don't currently offer, do get in touch and we will do our best to help.
Register your interest in the following CfE in SEND CPD offer
Book individual and organisational support from one of the three Centres for Excellence in SEND. For more details visit the Leadership offer or the Communities of Practice offer. Corrienne Peasgood, CEO and Principal of City College Norwich; Mandie Stravino, CEO of Derby College Group and Dr Paul Phillips, CEO and Principal of Weston College and their project delivery teams would like to work collaboratively with you.

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colleague, Your latest SEND update from the ETF

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Welcome back!... and where did September go? The theme of this newsletter is new beginnings and, like you, our three Centres for Excellence in SEND as colleges in their own right, have been working hard to make learners feel welcomed and settled into the sector.

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The Mindful Toolkit (a zipped file) includes information cards and task cards. It was designed to be used with prisoners with a range of SEND needs but it particularly focuses on mental well-being. The resource was developed and trialed by a group of prison-based learning support specialists working with learners with SEND. Each task card is mapped to a SEND pathway: Communication and interaction, Learning and cognition, Social, emotional and mental health, and Sensory and hearing impairments. https://www.excellencegateway.org.uk/content/etf2859
(Read about the project here: https://ccpathways.co.uk/projects/send-mindfulness-toolkit/)

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ACAMH - The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health

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ACAMH - The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health

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The Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH)

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Our vision: Sharing best evidence, improving practice. We aspire for ACAMH to become a major portal, access point for anyone seeking the most expertly digested understanding and interpretations of the best evidence available.