Click on a word which is in blue and bold to read what it means.
This year Inclusion Europe launches a new campaign
called “That’s what I learned“.
The topic of this campaign is education.
We think that inclusive education is better
for students, teachers and parents.
Our member Enable Scotland
wants all children to feel safe
when they go to school.
In many schools, children with disabilities
are kept away from the other children.
Enable Scotland started a campaign to stop this.
The campaign is called “In Safe Hands?”.
Jordan McKenna works at Enable Scotland.
We asked Jordan some questions.
Why did Enable Scotland start the campaign?
What were its goals?
We fight for all children with an intellectual disability in Scotland.
Scotland is part of the United Kingdom.
We want all children with disabilities to be safe,
healthy and to feel included.
We believe that all children have the right
to feel safe when they go to school.
We want all the children to learn together in schools.
Many children with intellectual disabilities find it difficult
to say how they feel.
They often say how they feel by doing things.
For example, some children throw themselves on the ground
if they don’t like something.
Sometimes teachers don’t understand that.
Then the teachers react in a bad way.
For example, they lock the children up in a room.
Or they keep the children from moving.
This causes stress to the children and the teachers.
And often the children are not safe.
There are many sad stories of children with intellectual disabilities
who are kept away from the other children.
This is bad.
We want to stop this.
We don’t want children with intellectual disabilities
locked and kept away from the other children.
We want more support for teachers.
And we want everyone to know
that sometimes these bad things happen
to children with intellectual disabilities.
That’s why we started the campaign “In Safe Hands?”.
What did the parents
of children with intellectual disabilities tell you?
The parents told us
what happened to their children.
One girl was locked in a room for a long time.
She needed to go to the bathroom,
but they didn’t let her.
The school did not say anything about it
to the parents of the girl.
The parents only heard about what had happened
from another pupil.
The girl is in another school now,
but she is still very afraid.
The mother of a child with disability told me
that her child was locked in a cloakroom
because he did not want to put his shoes on.
These things are very common.
But often, the parents don’t know about these things.
Because no one talks about these things.
Who supported Enable Scotland for the campaign?
The families of children
who were locked and kept away
helped us in our work.
Beth Morrison is the mother of Calum.
In his school, a teacher once
did not let Calum move.
Calum was injured because of that.
Beth helped us to make this problem known
also in other countries.
Also other organisations supported us.
For example, Inclusion Europe.
Many people wrote and talked about
our campaign “In Safe Hands?”.
You started the campaign last year.
Is there something good that has come out
of the campaign?
Yes.
The government of Scotland
will give clearer rules
on how to treat children with disabilities in schools.
This is very good.
But we still have a lot of work to do.
Join our campaign “That’s what I learned”
on inclusive education!
What have you learned at school,
in your family, in life?
