Last Sunday, Kevin Healey, Sean Flanagan and I discussed challenging behaviours that people with Autism may exhibit. This hangout was quite a short one due to technical difficulties and to the fact that there were only 3 panel members.
Last Sunday, Kevin Healey, Sean Flanagan and I discussed challenging behaviours that people with Autism may exhibit. This hangout was quite a short one due to technical difficulties and to the fact that there were only 3 panel members.
On the third episode of the Autism Hangout, I joined Autism Campaigner Kevin Healey and other panelists to discuss Autism diagnoses. Amongst the questions we discussed are, ‘Why have a diagnoses or a label?’ and ‘What support should be available after a diagnosis?’
Due to technical difficulties, the first 90 seconds are full of feedback. Please fast forward to 1:30.
Here is Helen Turnbull’s TED Talk about inclusion.
Kevin Healey is one of the UK’s leading Autism Awareness campaigner and a councilor for the National Autistic Society in the UK. He has been campaigning for Autism rights for over a decade and has inspired loads of people, incluing myself. As a person with Autism, Kevin understands what others like him are going through. People with Autism have different developmental trajectories, particularly in areas of social interation and communication. In addition, some may be hyper- or hypo- sensitive to sensory stimuli such as noise or bright lights. These, coupled with other people’s lack of understanding of the condition could lead to prejudice and negative attitudes.
As he recounted on his speech in this year’s Autism Show, Kevin himself has been a victim of bullying throughout the majority of his life. Being a victim of bullies has had a detrimental effect on his worklife, academic achievements and personal sense of security. He has been targeted in school, at work and even on the internet.
As a result of his experiences, Kevin decided to launch an anti-bullying campaign in order to protect people with Autism from being the target of bullying and other hate-related acts. Kevin has experienced and has seen enough victimization in his life and has decided to act upon it. Kevin, along with his supporters, are still pushing for this campaign to be supported and shown in billboards (which will be displayed very soon, nationally) and all media outlets.
He is currently pushing for a law against ‘HATE CRIMES AGAINST THOSE WITH AUTISM’, which garnered a lot of support from celebrities such as Ricky Gervais and Katie Price, and from local MPs. The UK parliament website states:
That this House congratulates Kevin Healey, an Ambassador for the National Autistic Society, who has been helping to raise awareness of hate crime, including cyber-bullying, trolling, stalking and physical bullying, against those suffering with autism through a highly successful Twitter campaign and a Global Anti-Bullying Autism Campaign; notes that the campaign has received the backing of celebrities such as Ricky Gervais, Katie Price and Melanie Sykes; further notes concern at the findings of a National Autistic Society survey that revealed 81 per cent of respondents having experience of verbal abuse, while 47 per cent reported that they have been victims of a physical assault, and that 24 per cent had been victims of cyber-bullying; and finally, calls on the Government to review urgently legislation and police recording of disability hate crime in order that victims can be confident that their suffering will be taken seriously and ended.
Kevin is the epitome of resilience. Despite his negative and (possibly) traumatic experiences in the hands of ignorant others, he did not stop. He wanted bullying and victimisation to stop, and he acted on it. His campaign will not only benefit himself, but thousands if not millions of others will greatly benefit from it, too. Everyday, he is proving to me and everyone else that people with Autism are a major part of society. He challenges negative stereotypes day after day, through his work which is fuelled by compassion and desire to help others and make this world a better place. I am sure that there will soon be a law to protect people with Autism against hate-related acts, and it will be because of Kevin Healey.
He is not an ordinary man. He is a hero. Yes, he has Autism, and yes, he is a hero.
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You can help by following Kevin on twitter (@Kevin_Healey )and retweeting his campaign-related tweets. You can also join the twitter storm every Thursday nights in order to get this topic trending (note that the more people we reach, the more this campaign will be successful). Please visit Kevin Healey’s Autism Awareness Campaign website for more information: www.autism-campaign.co.uk
More inspiring people with Autim:
You know, kids don’t learn from people they don’t like! – Rita Pierson
When we look at the UK’s education system today, particularly its emphasis on inclusion, it is difficult to imagine how much have changed over the years. At present, teachers and teaching assistants work very hard everyday to ensure that they give all of their students the best chance to succeed academically and socially. Both the Salamanca Agreement (UNESCO, 1994b) and the Dakar Agreement (UNESCO, 2000) have aimed to promote an inclusive education which expects schools to educate all students, particularly those with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. But this has not always been the case. In this post, I will provide a brief summary of the policies that have helped to shape the education system in the UK.
1. The 1880 Education Act
Prior to this Act, only a small percentage of children in the UK went to school. This Act stated that education should be compulsory for all children between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.
2. School fees were abolished in 1891 and school leaving age was extended to 12 years in 1899.
3. Despite haviing a compulsory education system, children with disabilities and other difficulties were still excluded from school. This then led to the establishment of special schools for blind and deaf children (1893) and consequently, special schools for physically impaired children (1899).
ASIDE: During these times, funds to support schools and teachers mainly depended on examination results, i.e. bad results leads to funding being withheld. An unfortunate consequence of this is that the majority of ‘good’ teachers focused their effort on bright students- those who would get them the results they needed, whilst ignoring those who had significant barriers to their learning. In addition, ‘good’ teachers chose to work in schools which had a high percentage of passes in the hope of receiving high salaries. Some schools refused to admit children with disabilities and those who have emotional and behavioural difficulties as they fear they would ‘pull’ their pass percentages down.
4. The Birth of the I.Q. Test
Parallel events are occurring in countries such as France, whose government wanted to devise a selection process which will allow them to identify which children are mentally incapable of learning, from those who are in order to find out which child can be offered an education placement. This then gave rise to the test developed and published by Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon in 1905. Refinements by Terman and Stern (1912) brought about the concept of an Intelligence Quotient, or I.Q. as we know it today.
5. The 1902 Education Act
This Act gave local Authorities the freedom to devise their own educational plans to meet their areas’ needs. This included strategies to identify children’s cognitive abilities (using I.Q. tests).They enlisted the help of medical professionals who judged whether children are suitable to attend mainstream education or not on the basis of low I.Q. and/ or emotional and behavioural difficulties.
6. Appointment of Cyril Burt as the first Educational Psychologist in the UK
Due to the fact that medical professionals back then were not trained in the field of psychology, which made it difficult for them to assess children’s educational profiles, the London Conty Council appointed Cyril Burt as an Educational Psychologist. Burt helped to identify children’s educational potential and capabilities. By the end of the 1920s, assessments were made by teams which consist of psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians and social workers.
7. The 1944 Butler Act
School leaving age was raised to 15 years, and secondary education was delivered in Grammar Schools (high achievers), Secondary Technical Schools (average students) and Secondary Modern Schools (everyone else). This Act also stated that children who have any ‘disability of the mind or body’ should be provided with an alternative educational provision. It intended for a segregated education, instead of an inclusive one.
8. The 1978 Warnock Report
This stated that all students should be taught in mainstream education instead of in segregated provisions. This report argued that more and more children are being placed in special schools, but the needs of most of them can be met in mainstream education. It also claimed that the 1944 Act led to stigmatization of students who were labelled as ‘maladjusted’ or ‘subnormal’.
9. The 1981 Education Act
This Act introduced the Staments of Special Educational Needs for children with severe barriers to their learning. This Act required teachers to identify children who needed extra assistance, whilst also requiring local authorities to formally assess children and then provide their schools with additional resources to meet these children’s needs. Consequently, conflicts between teachers’ and LA’s opinions about children’s SEN, with teachers saying that LAs were more concerned about spending than actually meeting the needs of the children. Despite this problem, parents were given the right to appeal to LA’s decisions under this Act.
10. The 1988 Education Reform Act and the introduction of the National Curriculum
The National Curriculum was introduced, which should be followed by every child, regardless of their educational needs. Special schools however, were allowed to deliver the curriculum at a much slower pace and at a lower level. This Act also introduced school inspections and standardised tests such as the Key Stage Standard Attainment Tests (SATs). With parents being allowed to chose schools and with the pressure for schools’ teaching staff to perform, this Act’s unfortunate consequence was the return of Payment by Results system. Again, as a result, most teachers’ focus was directed towards pupils who will give them the results they need to maintain their jobs. These consequences act as a deterrent to the inclusion of students with SEN.
11. The 1993 Education Act and the SEN Code of Practice
This requires schools to show that they have done everything they can to help address children’s difficulties before any statements were issued. A Tribunal System was established to give parents even more rights to appeal to decisions made by their LAs.
12. Special Educational Needs and Disability Act of 2001
This Act introduced the three different levels of support that schools can give to students with SEN:
12. The 2011 Green Paper
This paper plans to make changes in response to the inefficiencies of the current system. The authors claimed that
This Green Paper aims to (taken from the Department of Education):