by Douglas Silas
Specialist SEN solicitor

Can you believe that we are already now coming towards the end of this very strange and difficult year for everybody of 2020. I think we have also all now gradually become a bit desensitised to the incredible changes that we have seen throughout this year.
 
We are also now constantly being bombarded with (sometimes irrelevant) information from every which way that we turn. Keeping up with things takes up more and more of our valuable time, so we now have to be very careful, otherwise we may not have any quality time left to spend time with our family, to focus properly on work or to do the other tasks that we need or want to do. 
 
So, I have now decided to try and keep these updates more focused on providing just the information that I think that people need to know about what is happening in the world of SEN. 
 
(I will still try to recount a personal story at the end though, as some people tell me that this is what they really read my updates for!)
 
In this update, you will find sections entitled:
 

• CURRENT GUIDANCE ON SEN & COVID-19 
• THIS UPDATES FOCUS IS ON…
• FORTHCOMING SEN EVENTS
• I CAN’T MOVE I’M AFRAID!

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CURRENT GUIDANCE ON SEN & COVID-19 
I always try to provide up-to-date SEN news in my updates. The only difficulty with this is that my updates are only prepared once every half term, so there is always a lot of information out there for people to go through! 

As I do not want to overload people with information, I am going to try to focus in this section on the main current guidance (x 2) about SEN and Covid-19, which was provided by the DfE (Department of Education) at the end of last week, entitled: 

•    ‘Guidance for full opening: schools’ [updated on 5/11/2020] and

•    ‘What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges in the autumn term’ [updated on 6/11/2020]. 

As both of these sets of guidance are very long and detailed, I would encourage you to read them for yourselves directly if they concern or are of interest to you, by clicking on one of the links above. However, let me quickly give you an overview here.

‘Guidance for full opening: schools’ [updated on 5/11/2020] 

Focuses on how the DfE expects schools to now operate and includes:

•    school operations
•    curriculum, behaviour and pastoral support
•    assessment and accountability
•    contingency planning to provide continuity of education in the case of a local outbreak

Introduction, then set out in 5 sections, as follows:

Section 1: Public health advice to minimise coronavirus (COVID-19) risks, which covers:

•    Risk assessment
•    The system of controls: protective measures
•    Prevention
•    Response to any infection

This section then expands ‘Prevention’, to cover:

1. Minimise contact with individuals who are unwell by ensuring that those who have coronavirus (COVID-19) symptoms, or who have someone in their household who does, do not attend school

2. Where recommended, use of face coverings in schools

3. Clean hands thoroughly more often than usual

4. Ensure good respiratory hygiene by promoting the ‘catch it, bin it, kill it’ approach

5. Introduce enhanced cleaning, including cleaning frequently touched surfaces often using standard products, such as detergents

6. Minimise contact between individuals and maintain social distancing wherever possible

a. How to group children
b. Measures within the classroom
c. Measures elsewhere
d. Measures for arriving at and leaving school
e. Other considerations

7. Where necessary, wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE)

8. Keeping occupied spaces well ventilated

9. Engage with the NHS Test and Trace process

10. Manage confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) amongst the school community

11. Contain any outbreak by following local health protection team advice

It also covers ‘Alternative Provision’.

Section 2: School operations:

•    Transport
•    Dedicated school transport, including statutory provision
•    Wider public transport
•    Pupils travelling from abroad
•    Attendance
•    Self-isolation and shielding
•    Pupils and families who are anxious about attending school
•    Action for all schools and local authorities
•    School workforce
•    Staff who are clinically extremely vulnerable
•    Staff who are clinically vulnerable
•    Staff who are pregnant
•    Staff who may otherwise be at increased risk from coronavirus (COVID-19)
•    Employer health and safety and equalities duties
•    Supporting staff
•    Staff deployment
•    Deploying support staff and accommodating visiting specialists
•    Recruitment
•    Supply teachers and other temporary or peripatetic teachers
•    Expectation and deployment of ITT trainees
•    Performance management and appraisal
•    Staff taking leave
•    Other support
•    Safeguarding
•    Catering
•    Estates
•    Educational visits
•    School uniform
•    Wraparound provision and extra-curricular activity

Section 3: Curriculum, behaviour and pastoral support:

•    Curriculum expectations
•    Education is not optional
•    The curriculum remains broad and ambitious
•    Specific points for early years foundation stage (EYFS) to key stage 3
•    Specific points for key stages 4 and 5
•    Music, dance and drama in school
•    Minimising contact between individuals
•    Performances
•    Peripatetic teachers
•    Music teaching in schools and colleges, including singing, and playing wind and brass instruments in groups
•    Playing outdoors
•    Playing indoors
•    Singing, wind and brass playing
•    Social distancing
•    Seating positions
•    Microphones
•    Handling equipment and instruments
•    Handwashing
•    Avoiding sharing instruments
•    Handling scores, parts and scripts
•    Suppliers
•    Pick up and drop off points
•    Individual lessons and performance in groups
•    Social distancing
•    Avoid sharing instruments
•    Physical activity in schools
•    Catch-up support
•    Behaviour expectations
•    Pupil wellbeing and support
•    Hospital schools

Section 4: Assessment and accountability:

•    Inspection
•    Primary assessment

Section 5: Contingency planning for remote education:

•    Process in the event of local outbreaks
•    Contingency plans
•    Remote education expectations
•    Special educational needs
•    Vulnerable children
•    Delivering remote education safely
•    Remote education support

Annex A: Health and safety risk assessment:

•    Sharing your risk assessment
•    Monitoring and review of risk controls
•    Roles and responsibilities
•    Wider guidance on the risk assessment process
•    Consulting employees (general)
•    Resolving issues and raising concerns
•    Approach to risk estimation and management

Annex B: education, health and care (EHC) plans:

•    SEND legislation
•    Risk assessments for children and young people with education, health and care plans (EHC)

‘What parents and carers need to know about early years providers, schools and colleges in the autumn term’ [updated on 6/11/2020]

Covers matters similar to the above but now from a parent’s perspective and also includes things like attendance/assessments/admissions/uniform/mental health & well-being/local restrictions etc.

I hope that this helps you.

​THIS UPDATE’S FOCUS IS ON…
 
IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Educational Advice)
 
If you received my weekly updates during March to July, focused on the Covid-19 ‘lockdown’, you may recall that I not only highlighted information that I found in the news, but also as much useful information that I could  find on other helpful education/disability websites. 
 
I have therefore decided to try and now make the second section of these updates focus on organisations like these, to try and signpost people to information/resources that they are able to provide to people. 
 
In this update, I want to draw your attention to IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Educational Advice) and some of the information that they provide on their website and tell you a little bit about what they do.
 
I have been dealing with SEN cases personally as a solicitor for nearly 25 years now.  Throughout this time, whether as a ‘baby’ lawyer, or the more experienced lawyer that I hope that I have now become, I have always been involved with IPSEA in one way or another.  I have also been extremely lucky during that time to watch IPSEAblossom into the very effective organisation it is now, which consistently provides help to both parents (mainly) and professionals involved with SEN. 
 
Their website is updated regularly, including for the past seven months or so about Covid-19, school re-opening and SEN provision. Under their page entitled ‘Who we are’, they say the following:
 
“Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (known as IPSEA) is a registered charity (number 327691) operating in England. IPSEA offers free and independent legally based information, advice and support to help get the right education for children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). We also provide training on the SEND legal framework to parents and carers, professionals and other organisations.
 
Why families need IPSEA
By law, children with SEND are entitled to educational support that meets their individual needs. Since IPSEA was formed in 1983, we have helped to improve educational support for thousands of children with all kinds of SEND. We do this by providing free and independent legally-based information, advice and casework support.
 
Our unique range of services has been developed to ensure that families understand their children’s legal rights and entitlements and that they are empowered to enforce those rights to secure the right education for their child.
 
How we help
IPSEA has a suite of free downloadable legal guides and resources available to parents and carers. These guides are complemented by a free Advice Line which provides legally based information and next step advice on any educational issue that is a result of a child's SEND. IPSEA’s Tribunal Helpline gives next step advice on appeals and disability discrimination claims to the SEND Tribunal and is also the gateway to our Tribunal Support Service where a referral can be made for more extensive casework support from a volunteer, including representation at the hearing. Our advice services are delivered by a national network of around 200 highly-trained volunteers, supervised and supported by IPSEA’s Legal Team members.
 
IPSEA provides legal training for parents, school staff, parent carer forums, support groups and other organisations in order to increase their knowledge and understanding of the SEN legal framework. The proceeds raised from our training courses helps fund IPSEA’s core services (Advice Line, Tribunal Helpline and Tribunal Support Service).
 
We also work to challenge unlawful SEND policy and influence policy development at both a local and national level. Our policy work is informed by information and evidence captured through our training and advice services, and has been instrumental in shaping law and policy in the field of special educational needs and disability. 
 
IPSEA also provides information about the range of services that they have developed and on their page entitled ‘Our Services’ they say as follows: 
 
“Our unique range of services has been developed to ensure that families, and those advising them, understand children and young people’s legal rights and entitlements to education provision.
 
Advice Line
Our Advice Line provides legally based information and next step advice on any educational issue that is the result of a child’s special educational needs or disability
 
Tribunal Helpline
Our volunteers give next step advice on appeals and disability discrimination claims to the SEND Tribunal
 
Tribunal Support Service
We make referrals for more extensive support from a volunteer, including representation at Tribunal hearings
 
Information Service
Our Information Service is for general legal enquiries and will signpost you to fact sheets and resources on our website”
 
If parents need help about SEN, IPSEA provide other information and also some model letters about which they say: 
 
“You can download and amend our model letters to use for your own purposes. You should read the relevant section of the site about each topic first to ensure you understand how and when to use these letters.
 
EHC needs assessments
 
·       To request an Education, Health and Care needs assessment (Model letter 1)
·       To request a re-assessment (Model letter 2)
·       Complaining when the LA does not respond to a request for an EHC needs assessment within the 6 week time limit (Model letter 9)
·       Complaining when an EHC needs assessment is not being carried out properly (Model letter 7)
·       Complaining when the LA has not issued the draft or final EHC Plan following assessment (Model letter 10)
 
Amending EHC plans
 
·       To respond to the draft EHC plan sent by the LA (Model letter 3)
·       Complaining when the LA will not consider the school or college you want named in your EHC plan (Model letter 14)
·       Objecting to the amendments the LA is proposing to an existing EHC plan (Model letter 4)
·       Complaining when the local authority does not send out the final amended EHC plan in time (Model letter 15)
 
IPSEA also provides a range of training to both parents and professionals (see their page entitled: ‘Learn about and book training’) and they also provide two very informative pages, entitled ‘News’ (which is constantly updated) and ‘IPSEA Blogs’.
 
As I say, IPSEA is a very effective organisation for those parents and professionals who need to know about SEN. 
 
I hope that this also helps you.

FORTHCOMING SEN EVENTS
In my last SEN Update (at the beginning of the Autumn Term 2020-21), I said that the main SEN events that were due to take place around this time (many of which had been previously due to take place earlier this year) have had to be put off until next year now. I know that the Autism Show ran a webinar week recently, but it will not be up and running in person again until next June/July 2021.
 
In terms of more forthcoming SEN events, I would draw your attention to the following:
 

• The TES SEN Show at the Business Design Centre in London, on 8-9/1/2021;
• The Southern/Northern/Eastern Education Shows respectively on 3,9 and 25/2/2021.
• The Naidex Exhibition (on Disability) at the NEC in Birmingham on 9-10/3/2021; and

 
I do realise that further changes in the Covid-19 pandemic rules may again affect whether these events actually can go ahead in person or not, so I would encourage you to keep abreast directly of what is happening with them, if one of these events interests you.

I CAN’T MOVE I’M AFRAID…

Having been working from home on a full-time basis for the last seven months or so, I am no longer galivanting around the place in my wheelchair in London (where I live), or going on my little ‘adventures’ around the world (where I go on my charity bike rides). 

Although I can still go to events/places ‘virtually’, over these recent months I have been reflecting on some of the situations that I have found myself in over the years, some of which have been quite amusing sometimes. So, I want to share some of these stories with you here.

​In this update, I want to first tell you about what happened to me when I was supposed to be going to a very prominent event, where an eminent person was due to be giving a lecture.  The event was held in a very prestigious place in the midst of winter.

​As I knew that it would be a sought-after event, I had booked places well ahead of time and took some of my team with me. I was really looking forward to it and put a lot of planning into making sure that I could be there. How different things would have been now if the lecture had been given virtually, so that I would be able to enjoy it from the comfort of my own home.
 
As I cannot use public transport in my electric wheelchair, we all took a large people-carrier cab up to the venue (which can also transport my wheelchair for me). We were all very excited to be going to the event and I had planned for us to arrive at the venue in good time, in order to get ahead of the curve and get good seats near the front, where I would be able to properly see the speaker (I am afraid that I also have a visual impairment, so I need to sit as close as possible to the front of a seated event, in order to see the speaker properly).
 
However, although we arrived in good time, when we got there and the cab driver took my wheelchair out of the cab for me to sit in, after I sat in it and only moved forward just a few inches, one of my front castors (the small wheels on the front of a wheelchair) came off, so I suddenly came to a complete halt and was almost tipped out forwards from the wheelchair.  The castor had obviously been coming off slowly and had probably chosen this time to come off completely, so as to cause me the maximum difficulty!
 
At the same time, the doorman of the venue, who could see that something was wrong, came down to ask me if he could help me with anything (the venue had a number of steps up to the entrance, so I had anticipated that I would be taken to a side entrance to get in, as I usually have to). When he saw the predicament that I had been placed into, he kindly brought out a chair for me to sit on. However, as it was quite a stately venue, the only chair that he could find to bring me was a very proper and ornate high-backed one, that looked a bit like a throne! Although it was very comfortable for me to sit upon, I now felt a little bit strange and self-conscious sitting on it at the front of this venue, watching people go inside, like I was some sort of king observing his subjects.  
 
Try as we may, we could just not get the castor back onto the wheelchair safely and, as time was now going by quickly and I could see lots of people arriving and going into the venue, I told the other members of my team that they should go in now and enjoy the lecture without me, which they reluctantly did, after my insistence. I then called for another cab to pick me up and take me home, but was then told that it would now be a 30 minutes or so wait, as it was the rush hour at the end of the working day. 
 
So, I waited on my ‘throne’ outside at the front of the venue, with my lopsided wheelchair besides me, getting colder and colder. Remember it was mid-winter and I had thought that I was traveling to and from the venue in a warm cab, so I was not really dressed up as warmly as I should have been. 
 
Every once in a while (although, to my increasing embarrassment, it seemed constantly), people going into the venue would ask me if I was alright and whether they could help me go in (they could see my wheelchair besides me, so had realised that I was physically disabled). I just kept smiling though as much as I could (it really was not easy) and just told them that I was fine, even though I was clearly demonstrably not!
 
Finally, just before the cab arrived and helped to end this awful chapter in my life, although I had managed to by then to keep smiling and give out my standard response that I was fine to well-meaning strangers asking if they could help me go in, I could now no longer hide my frustration.
 
So, when now it seemed the hundredth person asked me if I was alright and if I wanted to go into the venue, I heard myself now say through shivering and chattering teeth: 
 
“I would if I could, but I can’t move, I’m afraid!”.

With best wishes
 
Douglas ​

by Douglas Silas, specialist SEN solicitor

by Douglas Silas, Specialist SEN Solicitor

It is always so hard to believe at this time of year that we are already halfway through the academic year - we now have more time behind us than in front of us!
 
In this SEN Update, you will find sections entitled:

• TRYING TO HELP PEOPLE HELP THEMSELVES 
• BUT I KNOW ITS GETTING HARDER FOR PEOPLE…
• FORTHCOMING SEN EVENTS
• SOME PEOPLE JUST DON’T GET IT!

 
As I always say, I know how busy everyone is, so please feel free to read just the sections that are of interest to you, or read everything; the choice is always yours.

SOME PEOPLE JUST DON’T GET IT!
As a physically disabled man using a wheelchair, I am always astonished by how some people just don’t get the fact that there are some things that I cannot do that they can do.
 
Over the years I have got used to the fact that people who meet me for the first time (even if they hear me speak out loud and should realise that I can actually think and talk for myself) sometimes patronise me.

​On occasion, they cannot help themselves and try to speak to an able-bodied person beside me to ask them things about me which I can answer myself, if they just ask me directly. Funnily enough, I actually feel sorry for them, as they seem to be the one who have difficulties!
 
This was again brought home to me at the SEN Law Conference, when I was waiting by the lift with my wife, Erica, together with one of the venue staff.
 
The first indication we had was when the staff member turned to Erica and asked her what floor I needed to get to.  I did not really think about this, because it seemed like a very normal question to ask someone and I thought that the staff member was just making conversation and trying to be helpful.  However, when the lift came and we all got in and Erica and the staff member went to press the relevant buttons, we were both a bit taken aback when this staff member turned to Erica and asked her about me and my needs. 
 
Erica immediately gave me the look, which she gives me when people talk to her, rather than to me and simply replied to the staff member that she should direct her questions to me rather than to her because I could speak for myself.
 
However, I actually want to end this update with another story from just before the beginning of the SEN Law Conference, which I told at the start of the day when I gave my welcome to everyone.  I do apologise if you were there and you heard it in person, but I realise that many of you were not and I think it is a great story that illustrates some of the difficulties that I and other disabled people face sometimes, because some non-disabled people just don’t get it.
 
When we arrived in the morning, we were quite surprised to find that there was no ramp to allow me access to the venue due to the set of about ten steps from the pavement to the venue’s entrance. This had been agreed beforehand when we booked the venue.  However, I realised that it was still quite early in the day and they might not have got it down yet, or there may be another reason. 
 
But there was no ‘call button’ for me to attract someone’s attention inside, which there usually is when I go into a place, to allow me to call someone out to help me.  As it happens, funnily enough, although Erica went into the venue to ask someone to come and help me, whilst I was sitting outside in my wheelchair by myself, another passer-by stopped and asked me if I needed him to go in and get someone.
 
In any event, somebody returned with Erica with a remote control and we found there actually was a lift that had been installed at the side and top of the steps, which had been folded up which (albeit very slowly) was brought down towards the pavement for me. This allowed me to put my wheelchair on it and be lifted up to the top (again, very slowly), from where I then went into the venue for the conference itself.
 
A few minutes later, Erica came to me and said that, after I had managed to go into the conference room, she had returned to Reception to ask why there was no ‘Call Button’ that I could have pressed for somebody to have come to my assistance, in case I had been by myself. 
 
Unbelievably, the receptionist simply answered Erica by saying: “Oh, that would be no problem, he could just come in and get us!”
 
You just couldn’t make it up, could you!
​
With good wishes

​Douglas

P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by going to 'Spring (Half) Term 2019-20 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’.
​
There are just 3 quick questions.​

Firstly, let me wish you a belated Happy New Year, I do hope that you have a good and peaceful 2020.

Although this is my first SEN Update of the new chronological year 2020, it is still just the start of the second term in the new academic year 2019/20.
 
In this SEN Update, you will find sections entitled:
​

• ​WHERE ARE WE GOING? (EDUCATION COMMITTEE) 
• SEN LAW CONFERENCE (UPDATE)
• FORTHCOMING SEN EVENTS
• PUTTING YOUR FEET UP!

PUTTING YOUR FEET UP!
My apologies again - this last section is a bit longer again today than usual.

I know that many of you have heard me relate stories over the past few years from my international bike rides, using a specially modified recumbent trike, for the charity, Norwood, that helps children and young people with disabilities (just in case you don’t know already, I am physically disabled myself and use a wheelchair to get around).

But I have realised recently that I have not actually told the story of how I managed to start riding in the first place, nor tell you how I got my trike in the first place.  That is a story in itself! 

So, I have decided to tell you this story today...
 
It all began when I started speaking with my friends, Paul and Stephen, who themselves had done many international bike rides before for Norwood. They shared their stories with me (sometimes when we were all coincidentally training in the same gym) about having done bike rides in places like India, South Africa, or in other exotic climes.

Hearing their stories and adventures made me want to do one myself. However, as I was already physically disabled and had a deteriorating condition, which was progressing a little bit quicker than I expected, I knew that it may be impossible or, at least, quite a tall order for me to ever do one. 

They now tell me that they thought I would eventually let the subject drop. However, I persisted discussing this with them over the years and eventually, to their surprise, I ultimately plucked up the courage and asked them if I would be able to do a ride with them.
 
Of course, we all realised early on that if this was to be any kind of possibility, I would need to become a physically strong rider and we would need to ride on a tandem of some kind, where they could do the most energetic work and I could do what I could. However, we also realised that we would have an added practical difficulty because I could not balance properly (as my condition causes me to fall a lot).
 
We genuinely thought that it was not possible to connect a trike and a bike and get two independent chain-sets, working together, so I decided to present the problem to Vincent (who is also a wheelchair user), who designs and makes my wheelchairs. Vincent is one of the few people who I trust to advise me about things like this, as he is very good at making and designing not only wheelchairs, but also other kinds of mobility devices for disabled people (for which he has even won a ‘Tomorrow’s World’ award - remember that?) Unfortunately though (for me), Vincent works and lives in Liverpool, whereas I am based in London.

Knowing that we would benefit from a face to face meeting, Paul and I went with my wife, Erica, and another friend to visit Vincent. After driving up there for about two and half hours, we discussed the problem in great detail with him, but he said that he did not think that it was possible. However, he told us that he remembered helping a disability bike club in Manchester once.  He made a call to them and, to our delight, they told him that if we rushed over to them straightaway, we could look at some of the bikes they had at a race track they were using that afternoon.

We therefore all quickly piled into the car (without Vincent) and drove to Manchester, about another hour's drive away. We reached the club/race track just a few minutes before they were due to close.  There were a number of different bikes/trikes that we now saw, including bicycles and other forms of twin person bikes and trikes. This included the trike I now use (called a Hase ‘Kettwiesel’), but we first spied another kind of three wheeled tandem/trike, where the disabled person would sit and pedal on the front and the non-disabled person would sit and pedal on the back.  
 
After persuading the club’s staff to not end their session quite yet, they allowed Paul and I to give this tandem/trike a go and we set off around the track together on it. Sitting at the front, I was powering as hard as I could go to try and impress Paul and it all seemed to be going quite well for the first 200 metres of the 400-metre track.  However, at that point it got much harder for me and it took me a lot more effort to finally complete the last 200 metres. 
 
When we passed the finishing line, I was then very surprised to turn around and see Paul with his feet up near the handlebars. Paul then told me that, when he had seen how strong I seemed to be for the first 200 metres, he had decided to take his feet off his pedals and put them up for the last 200 metres to see how strong I actually was!
 
Paul then said that, as he now could see that I was much stronger than he thought I would be, I should try and ride on my own on the ‘Kettweisel’. I therefore was put onto this trike and went off by myself around the track (my eyesight was a lot better in those days, which allowed me to ride by myself!).  

It was an incredible feeling my being on that trike for the first time as, for the first time in many years, I felt really free again. I zoomed off around the track and made my way back around quite quickly. When I came back in everyone was smiling at me and I too had a big smile on my face!
 
“That’s it then…” said Paul, “…we’ve now found the trike for you, haven’t we?”
 
In the next couple of weeks. Paul and I had bought a Hase ‘Kettwiesel’ for me, which he also had modified and the rest is history.
 
So there you have it, that’s the story!

​See, a lot of things can happen when you don’t look behind you…

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by going to 'Spring Term 2019-20 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’.
​
There are just 3 quick questions.

THERE MUST BE SOMETHING WRONG ​(THE CONTINUING SEND CRISIS)
​​If you have read my SEN Updates in recent years, you will know that I have tried to highlight some difficulties I have noticed over recent years after the introduction of Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans by the Children and Families Act 2014. You may remember also that one section in my Spring (Half) Term 2018/19 update was entitled: "The SEND Crisis”.
​
​I wish I could be more positive with you in this update, but I am afraid that everywhere I seem to turn these days seems to be telling me (both directly and indirectly) that difficulties are continuing and that things these days even seem to be getting a bit worse.

​There must be something wrong.
 
For example, I am often involved with appeals to the SEND Tribunal, but this past year the SEND Tribunal seems to have been inundated with appeals which has meant that a lot of appeal hearings are having to be postponed at a very late stage, because of a lack of judicial time. The affect of this is crushing to many parents, both emotionally and financially and is playing havoc with the diaries of many educational and other associated professionals.  
 
I regularly hear the arguments that the whole appeal process is often felt by parents not to be fair, but I also hear that many Local Authorities (LAs) are still struggling to maintain their statutory duties, with the excessive funding cuts they have had in the past decade or so. No matter what perspective you have, the impact of funding cuts having severely hindered the work also of schools/colleges and thereby also affect pupils/students, so that some children and young people are sometimes not having access to any education at all, not just not having access to appropriate provision or placement.
​
​I am afraid that I am increasingly and continually seeing the system being attacked from all sides, with lots of difficulties not only regarding the amount of EHC assessments required and then the level of provision required by them,  but also associated difficulties with restricted access to health and care provision (such as CAMHS [the Child and Mental Health Adolescent Service]) or the social care system (which is charged with keeping our children safe). 
 
I cannot tell you how upsetting it is to see this all happening. However, I was a little bit buoyed by reading the latest SEND Newsletter (November 2019) from the Department of Education (DfE) which says as follows:
 
‘The SEND Review
 
The government has announced the launch of a crosscutting review of SEND. Five years on from the Children and Families Act, the review will look at how the system has evolved since then, how it can be made to work best for all families and ensure quality of provision is the same across the country. Recognising the importance of joined-up support, it will also explore the role of health care in SEND in collaboration with the Department of Health and Social Care. The review will consider: 

• the evidence on how the system can provide the highest quality support that enables children and young people with SEND to thrive and prepare for adulthood, including employment;
• how to better help parents to make decisions about what kind of support will be best for their child;
• how to make sure support in different local areas is consistent and joined up across health, care and education services, as well as ensuring that high-quality health and education support is available across the country;
• how we strike the right balance between state-funded provision across inclusive mainstream and specialist places;
• how we align incentives and accountability for schools, colleges and local authorities to make sure they provide the best possible support for children and young people with SEND;
• what is behind the rise in education, health and care (EHC) plans and the role of specific health conditions in driving demand; and,
• how we ensure that public money is spent in an efficient, effective and sustainable manner, placing a premium on securing high quality outcomes for those children and young people who need additional support the most.

 
It will conclude with action to boost outcomes and improve value for money, so that vulnerable children have the same opportunities to succeed, as well as improving capacity and support for families across England.’
 
As ever, these are fine words, but it is important that we follow through with things and look to the future.
 
We owe this to our children and young people…

SO WE DO IT! 
My apologies - this last section is a bit longer today than usual.

I have recently returned from doing my 10th (yes, ‘tenth’!) international bike ride for Norwood, a charity which helps children and young people with disabilities. My bike rides are generally a week-long (usually about 400 kilometres over 5 days – from Monday to Friday) but, as this year's was a big one for me, I rode about 600 kilometres over six days.

As you may know from my previous updates, as a physically disabled person using a wheelchair, I do these rides by using a specially modified recumbent trike, which is attached to and guided by a rider on a normal bike in front of me. The front rider not only steers for me, but can also brake for me (unfortunately, my physical reactions do not allow me to respond quickly and I also have a visual impairment which hinders me). ​

But actually, in this final section of my update, I want to tell you about something that happened on my ninth ride, last year in Greece. 
 
At the end of Day 4 of 5 last year, after covering about 100km that day already, it had got to 4pm by our last stop and we still had about 25 kilometres to go. I knew that we had to complete the day’s ride by 5.30pm when the sun would go down, because we do not have lights usually on our bikes and I know that safety always comes first.

A number of riders were very tired and resigned themselves to not being able to do the last stretch in the time/daylight left and putting their bike on the accompanying van with a trailer and riding the last section on the accompanying ‘bus’ (that also transports our luggage from stop to stop every night).

I was also very tired and had already worked out that, even if I could sustain about 15 kilometres per hour (not so easy when you are sometimes climbing up quite steep hills), I would not be able to do this last section within the remaining slot of daylight and, therefore, I was also starting to resign myself to having to sit out the last section, or be prepared to be ‘swept up’ by the ground crew and put on the ‘bus’ and my trike on the trailer. I really thought that I could not do it. However, something amazing then happened…
 
My friend, Assaf, (a strong rider, who I have ridden with many times over many years), was my front rider, whose bike was attached to my trike. When I said that I didn’t think I would be able to do the last bit, in his no-nonsense style, he then just asked me: 

"Are you saying that you don't want to do it, or are you saying that you do want to do it, but you do not think you can?". 

I replied that it was the latter, that I wanted to do it, but I didn't think we would be able to; but he then simply responded to me: 

“So, we do it!”
​
I now immediately felt a renewal of energy and when some of the other riders, who were about to give up and sit on the bus, heard that Assaf and I were still going to try to ride the next bit, they also felt a renewal of energy and decided to ride with us (including my son, Zachi). ​I cannot tell you about the thrill I then felt when riding that next section during the last hour or so.  

The first part was actually quite a hard slog, as we seemed to be continuously riding uphilI and I wondered sometimes if we had actually bitten off more than we could chew. But when we got to about 5pm and we saw the sun starting to set in the sky (by which time I had also been swapped to another strong rider called Steve), we all suddenly started riding faster and faster knowing that we still had about 10 kilometres to go and only about 30 minutes in which to do it.
 
At one point, I saw the ‘bus’ in the distance and resigned myself to the fact that the ground crew were probably going to ‘sweep’ us up, but I suddenly found an increase of power again and started riding faster and, strangely, as we got nearer to it, the 'bus' disappeared.  We were now all riding in a large convoy, riding together watching the sun gradually setting in the sky, but this was only encouraging me to ride even faster. The other riders around me saw this and that I was 'going for it', which somehow again renewed them with energy and they all kept up with me, which pushed me to try to go faster, which in turn made them speed up, pushing me to go faster – it was circular - you get the idea!
 
We now seemed to be ‘flying’ along at speed and I noticed that we were starting to go downhill, which was making us go even faster still. It then dawned on me that this was because we had been slowly ascending uphill during the first hour or so, which meant that we were now enjoying the fruits of our labour going downhill at speed. After a few kilometres more, with the sun almost now set, I could see the 'bus' again in the distance. So, again, I resigned myself to the fact that the ground crew were probably going to ‘sweep’ us up but, once more, the bus disappeared.  
 
The sun eventually set and darkness was upon us, so I now thought to myself that there was no possible way that we were going to be allowed to ride without lights but, almost miraculously, a rider who had lights on his bike went to the front of the convoy and another rider. also with lights on his bike. went to the back so that other people/cars would be able to see us.  We therefore carried on and seemed to be going faster and faster, until we eventually arrived at our destination, greeted by other riders from the bus which had already arrived, with applause and cheering when we came into all together, with the surroundings now being in almost complete darkness.
 
It is really quite remarkable when you start to think positively and start to believe that you can do something, even though you genuinely thought a minute before that you really cannot do it. It was only later also that I found out that the reason we had not been swept up by the bus was the fact that there was so many of us riding that the ground crew had realised that they would not be able to put all of our bikes together on the accompanying trailer, so if it had only been a few of us individually we would have been swept up, but because there was so many of us, they decided they could not do so!
 
My son, Zachi, who has now done rides with me these past six years and who I was sharing a room with that night, laughed together when we got into our room, knowing we had shared a very special experience together. He said to me with a big smile on his face:
 
“You love doing something don't you, when you really think you can't!" 

​With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by going to 'Autumn (Half) Term 2019-20 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’.
​
There are just 3 quick questions.

I DIDN'T SEE YOU THERE!
​​When you are a wheelchair-user like me, you are usually sitting down and so are then roughly half the height of somebody who is standing up (unless you are a child, who is usually still on my eye level).

People therefore often fail to see me until the very last minute, because I am below their field of vision. This often ends up in quite a few near misses, either when they are walking towards me, or even when I am crossing the road.

I can’t tell you the number of times that I have been nearly hit by cars, even when I am using a zebra crossing. It is usually the same thing, either one car stops for me  to let me go, but other cars behind them or coming the other way just keep going, or cars drive over my path when I am crossing, because they just don't see me.

We often only avoid a collision because I stop or take evasive action as quickly as possible, or they slam on their brakes when they see me, sometimes screeching to a halt just inches away from me - it is really terrifying. 
 
Yet on some occasions, people in cars who have just narrowly missed hitting me, just carry on driving without a care in the world, not realising that they have only very narrowly avoided what could have been a fatal accident for me, which they would be held totally responsible for and could mean them being convicted of manslaughter by dangerous driving and being imprisoned.

It really doesn’t bear thinking about, as so many lives (including those of our respective families) could end up being changed so dramatically in a fraction of a second.  
 
But probably the best example I can give you is the one which happens to me nearly everyday, where I am quietly travelling on the pavement and approaching people coming the other way, who are so engrossed in looking down at their phones, that they do not see me coming towards them. 

I also cannot tell you the number of times that I've had near misses with people like this, with them not seeing me in front of them. I have to be so careful not to collide with them, but they still almost crash into me even when I have slowed down considerably and am sometimes even stationary, when they suddenly look up a bit startled and find me sitting there just in front of them.
​
​I suppose you could say that they are just in their own little world!

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by going to 'Autumn Term 2019-20 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’.
​​
There are just 3 quick questions.

THE NUMBER JUST GETS LARGER EVERY YEAR(SEN STATS)
If you have read my updates previously in the last few years, you will know that at this time every year, I like to share the latest annual statistics about Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans (previously Statements of SEN) issued by the Department for Education (DfE).  
 
The latest version of the DfE statistics was issued on their website at the end of May 2019 and there are a number of different versions that you can find here.
 
The DfE’s webpage states:
 
‘This publication includes information on:

• The number of EHC Plans in place in January 2019
• The number of EHC Plans made for the first time during the 2018 calendar year
• The number and percentage of EHC Plans that were issued within 20 weeks
• Progress structuring schemes of SEN EHC Plans

 
It is based on the statutory SEN2 data collection.’
 
The main points I have pulled out are as follows:
 
‘The total number of EHC Plans has continued to increase …
 
There were 354,000 children and young people with Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans maintained by local authorities as at January 2019.
 
This is an increase of 34,200 (11%) from 2018.  This is driven by increases across all age groups, with largest percentage increases in the 0-5 (13%) and 20-25 (32%) age groups.
 
The total number of children and young people with Statements of SEN or EHC Plans has increased each year since 2010.
 
There were 48,907 new EHC Plans made in the 2018 calendar year …
 
There were 48,900 children and young people with new EHC Plans made during the 2018 calendar year.  This is an increase of 16% compared to 2017.
 
The number of new EHC Plans has increased each year since their introduction in 2014.
 
The proportion of new EHC Plans issued within 20 weeks has fallen …
 
In 2018, 60% of new EHC Plans were issued within 20 weeks.
 
This shows a decrease from 2017, when 65% of new EHC Plans were issued within the 20-week time limit.  This figure excludes exceptional cases where the local authority need not comply with the 20-week time limit if it is impractical to do so.’ 
 
As always, the DfE documents go into a lot more detail and there are also some visual representations and more breakdowns on what they have said here but, unless you work within this area and need this information, or work for academic purposes, you will probably just want the headline information that I have quoted above.
 
Of course, the main thing of note, is that, again, there has been quite a sizeable increase over the course of 2018 of children and young people with EHC Plans and 40% of new EHC Plans are not being issued within (the required) 20 weeks.
 
It also concerns me a bit that we seem to have been steadily increasing the number of EHC Plans (or Statements of SEN before them) over the past eight or so years, even though we were told that the introduction of the new SEN Framework would mean that more children and young people with SEN would be able to have their needs met without EHC Plans.  
 
Yet this does not seem to be the case for reasons that I have highlighted earlier this year in a previous update, which was talking about some people saying that there may now be a SEN crisis (the one talking about the SEN Law Conference).
 
I am really not sure what more I can say here now, since the statistics seem to speak for themselves in many ways. However, trying to look at this as objectively as possible, it does seem to me that the main increase in the last year (at 32%) has been in the 20-25 age group, which seems to be new entrants to the SEN system that may not have been there before. Also, the second largest percentage increase (at 13%) was in the 0-5 age group, which might be because we are getting better now at identifying SEN in children under the age of 5.
 
But given the fact that we are still living in an era of public funding cuts, it does seem to me that this continual increase in EHC Plans and the corresponding demand on public funds, may mean that if we continue in this manner to increase every year, the increases will not be sustainable.
 
I know that this feels like the ‘elephant in the room’ but I do feel it needs to be said and we all need to put our heads together to work out the best way around it, otherwise no-one is going to be happy in the end, as the number of EHC Plans just seems to get larger every year.

FALLING FLAT ON MY FACE!
I am going to end this update a little differently today, by not telling you a single personal story, but sharing with you a couple of stories.  

But I also want to first put things in context.
 
A lot of people like to say that you should always try and reach as far as you can when you do something. This usually stems from the feeling that you need to be able to show yourself and others that you have tried as hard as you can and could not have done anything more. 
 
This is very motivating and trying your hardest like this sometimes leads to outcomes that no-one was expecting. In fact, it is also said that sometimes it is good for a teacher to ask their pupils at the end of a test, if they have really tried as hard as they could have and to put their hands up if they have not. 
 
You will be surprised at how many children will actually put their hands up and admit that they didn’t do their best, but how this lesson then teaches them for the future and motivates them to always do the best they can. 
 
But sometimes, you need to also remember not to reach too far. Although I also subscribe to the view that you should always try to do your best, as a physically disabled man using a wheelchair, but who still has to try and balance on his legs sometimes, I have found that I can sometimes actually reach too far for something sometimes and then over-balance; so the next thing I know is that I am on the floor, having fallen flat on my face! 
 
There are numerous stories I can tell you about times like these; like when I am reaching for something very carefully and slowly, putting in enormous effort to get it, but just as I am about to get it, finding that somebody, who genuinely thinks that they are helping me, then moving it to somewhere that they think is closer for me to get it, but me then being surprised and disorientated by this and not only then not getting it, but also losing my balance and falling flat on my face!
 
Or the times when I am reaching for something, but just as I am about to get it, ending up knocking it a bit further away from me and then having to reach a bit further for it again, but ending up knocking it a bit further away from me again; and doing this over and over again until I reach just too far and, you guessed it, ending up losing my balance and falling flat on my face!
 
What I have learnt from this though is that I just need to learn to get up myself again. I have also found that this is actually better for me in the long run, both mentally and physically. Overall, I have learnt that, whist it is important to always try your hardest, you should not over-reach for something.
 
So, whilst I know that it often feels a bit counter-intuitive to not reach as far as you can for something, or to watch someone struggle and not do anything to assist them, please remember that sometimes you can help me by not helping me!

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by going to 'Summer (Half) Term 2018/19 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’.
​
There are just 3 quick questions.

NOT EVERYONE HAS AN EHC PLAN THOUGH
I know I have referred to above about there being increasing appeals to the SEND Tribunal about EHC plans, it is also important for me to point out that not all children and young people with SEN have an EHC plan.

So this leads me nicely on to talking to you about other difficulties I have noticed in the SEN world recently. The new SEN framework,  which was brought into effect from September 2014, had a number of goals, including reducing the number of children with EHC plans (which replaced Statements of SEN).

But, unfortunately, this seems to have had unintended consequences and, actually, there seems to be more children (and now young people) with EHC plans.
 
As I see it, this problem seems to have come about in two ways:

1. There has been an increase in the number of EHC plans needed, because one is now available up to 25 years of age, whereas Statements of SEN were only available up to 19 years before, if a child was in a school (there was no strict legal concept of a ‘young person’ before);
2. Parents of children with SEN or young people with SEN themselves have had concerns about the SEN provision being available to them at their school/placement without an EHC Plan and have, therefore, sought the protection of one to ensure that they get the SEN provision that they require.

 
This latter argument is a bit circular since, the logic dictates, that the more people who seek an EHC Plan, the less money there is available to make provision in maintained mainstream or special schools (or academies) and this has definitely not been helped when we have had funding cuts and austerity measures now for almost a decade and every year schools and LAs (and others) seem to be being asked to do more with less!

It is almost like  a self-fulfilling prophecy sometimes. 
 
It strikes me as a bit sad that a lot of disputes cannot be resolved earlier and at a more amicable and local level, because I have noticed that the longer a dispute goes on, the more polarised and fixed in their beliefs people become and that they are then less willing to compromise on things, including their principles.

I am also a bit concerned that I sometimes see advisers/representatives (on both sides and both legal and otherwise) taking or defending appeals, and having unnecessary hearings, which do not really have appropriate chances of success. 
 
This just ends up causing more difficulties  for everyone emotionally, financially and practically than it should have done and, often, it is the child or young person with SEN who suffers in the end (with less money available to the school/LA or parents finding themselves lighter in the pocket and without money that could have been better spent on getting support (including therapy) for them.
 
I believe that many of these disputes could probably be resolved with better communication between the parties at an earlier stage.

A NAME, NOT A NUMBER!
Although I am physically disabled and a wheelchair user, as you may already know from reading this last section in my previous SEN Updates, I have done a number of international bike rides for charity over the past years (I am doing my 10th one later this year!)

I therefore keep myself as physically fit as possible, which requires me now to train 4-5 times a week with a trainer, usually in the gym. As I have a neurological and degenerative condition, which also affects other things like my sight and fine motor skills, as well as it affecting my mobility and coordination, I do not drive any longer (I gave up being behind the wheel of a car in 2011, because I was noticing a deterioration in my co-ordination and eyesight).

So, my wife, Erica, generally takes me to and from the gym in her (large) car, which also fits in it my wheelchair. As, I have been training in the gym for about 15 years, although people there now know me well as a regular by name, the gym that I go to (Pure Gym) requires members to go in and go out using a Pin Code, which they have to punch into a keyboard panel before a ‘pod’ door opens to let them in or out.
 
As I am not able to use my wheelchair to get in and out through the normal ‘pods’, I always have to use the more accessible (and normal, but still electronically locked) door to get in and out. 

However, I am still required to punch my number in, before the door opens or closes and because it can be sometimes be quite difficult for me to punch in the right numbers (remember that I have fine motor and visual difficulties), so that they are recognised properly.

So, Erica usually does this for me using her Pin Code (she also goes to the gym herself once or twice a week). She says it often takes up a lot of her time waiting for me to enter my Pin Code, as it sometimes takes me a few attempts to enter it successfully and this can then last for three to five minutes, (which is, understandably, difficult to have to wait for, if she is rushing somewhere else.)
 
The funny thing here is that, over the years, Erica has been noted by Pure Gym as putting her number in quite regularly. So it always amuses me when she tells me that, she gets regular emails from Pure Gym now congratulating her on going to the gym so often and being so fit!
 
As I like to say to her now sometimes, she is taking the credit, without doing the work!

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by going to 'Summer Term 2018/19 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’.
​
There are just 3 quick questions.

YOU CANNOT CONTROL EVERYTHING...
Most people know that I am physically disabled and use a wheelchair to get around, so those who hear me say this each time in this section of my update have my sincere apologies for repeating myself; but I am always conscious that each update there are more people subscribing since the last one, who may not know this.

​New subscribers may also not know the fact that I have become well known over many years for doing international bike rides to raise money for Norwood, a charity for children and young people with disabilities.
 
Anyway, you may recall that, in the ride that I did a couple of years ago, I was  quite upset to find when I arrived at our destination, that the airline we had flown with, had bizarrely failed to bring my electric wheelchair from London and I therefore had to spend the first few days of the ride having to struggle around with an old-fashioned and uncomfortable manual wheelchair lent to me by the airport, until I got my own wheelchair back again. 
 
I wonder if you can realise just how difficult it was for me to be without my electric wheelchair and therefore not being as independent as I like to try to always be by being able to ‘control’ my wheelchair (which I often refer to as being my ‘legs’!)
 
So, I decided on this next ride, after the fiasco of what happened the previous year, to try to be a bit clever.  

During the past year, after misplacing so many things (not helped by my sight deteriorating), I have been investing in a number of ‘Tiles’ which I have attached to my keys, briefcase and other possessions that I can then locate easily from my phone.  

(Just to explain a bit from the 'Tile' website: 'Tile uses Bluetooth to communicate with a companion app on a smartphone or tablet, whereby the Tile app "discovers" a Tile and establishes a connection to it using the Bluetooth signal. While competitors are restricted by Bluetooth's typical connectivity range of 100 feet , Tile's range can go far beyond that by using the Bluetooth connection of neighbouring smartphones running the Tile app to cast a wider search net.')
 
Anyway, this time, as I realised I could not afford to lose my wheelchair for a second time, I wanted to ensure that it made it onto the plane, so I bought a new Tile to attach to my wheelchair.  Unfortunately, though, I did not have time to attach it properly to my wheelchair, before I left for the ride So, at the airport, I quickly attached it to my wheelchair, by way of a strong plastic tag attached to one of the push-handles and then tucked it inside the back rest.
 
When we boarded the plane, I had been sure to tell the ground crew who brought me on the plane that I really needed them to make sure that they put my wheelchair on the plane this time. I then did not check my phone, because another rider I was with saw out of the window on the plane whilst we were waiting on the tarmac whilst the bags were being loaded and told me that they could see that the ground crew had put my wheelchair on this time.

(I was not the only person who was nervous this time, as a number of other riders had witnessed me first-hand the previous year being without my wheelchair and were really upset for me, so did not want me to have to go through this again).  
 
When we got to our destination (in Greece this time), my wheelchair was waiting for me when we arrived, so I felt quite relieved and even a little smug that everything was alright and that, even though I had not ultimately needed it, putting the Tile on as a precautionary measure had paid off in the end.
 
We collected our bags (I had even purchased a Tile and put it in my main bag and another in my ‘day bag’ (i.e.  my rucksack with me), went out of the airport and boarded the coach who was taking us to our destination for the night. I was pleased again to be told by someone who was sitting above where they were loading the luggage onto the coach (which is below where you sit), that they saw my wheelchair put onto the coach. 
 
Imagine my surprise and concern though to then see and hear the last person who came on board, hold up my wheelchair ‘Tile’ still attached to the plastic tag, but no longer attached to the wheelchair, and ask: 
 
“Has anybody lost this?”
 
See, don’t try to be too clever!

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by

• going to 'Spring (Half) Term 2018/19 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’ (if reading this on our website); or
• complete the survey under the ‘Feedback’ section (if reading this on the 'SEN.fyi' App).

There are just 3 quick questions.

HAVEN’T WE BEEN HERE BEFORE? (SEN ISSUES)
​
As I mentioned in my previous Update, the Westminster Education Forum held its annual conference about SEND on 6 December 2018 entitled: ‘The Next Steps for SEND Policy – High Needs Funding, Local SEND Service Provision and Improving Outcomes’.This is almost an annual event these days in the Autumn term. Although I was unable to attend it personally for work-related reasons, I did manage to obtain a transcript of the event afterwards, which has made for interesting reading, so I want to share some things discussed there with you here.
 
There was firstly a presentation from Dr Adam Boddison, the Chief Executive of nasen, entitled: ‘Where Next for SENDPolicy in England?’. In his presentation, Adam talked about some mainstream schools being SEN  ‘magnets’, as they are an inclusive school that seems to attract many children with SEN. This is both because parents wanting their child with SEND to go to that school as it is more welcoming (or more happy about their implementation of SEN support), or because other mainstream schools tend to refer to children with SEN to them. But he then also spoke about the fact that a number of these other schools also do this because they realise that if they don’t do it, they may be penalised in some way. 
 
Adam also said that, whilst the principles of the new SEND Code of Practice were quite good, in identifying and meeting all the needs, it had tried to be implemented at the time of   limited budgets, schools turning into academies and changes to school assessments, so that it has probably been overshadowed.
 
One other thing that got me thinking was when Adam made reference to Ofsted and the fact that he did not think that mainstream schools should be rated as ‘Outstanding’, if they were not inclusive. In fact, he pointed to one school now graded as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted, even though it had not had a SENCO in place for 5 years! Overall, he felt that, at the moment, schools are judged on a very narrow set of academic outcomes and he felt this needed to be broader.  He also pointed out the fact that ‘progress’ should not merely look at academic attainment, as children with SEN may not be able to make the same academic progress as others, but the progress they were making was still very important and should be recognised. 
 
All in all, I felt that Adam’s presentation neatly set up the Conference and the other speakers who were there.  There were further presentations from a member of the Parliamentary Education Select Committee, who are currently conducting an Inquiry into SEN, a presentation about joint Ofsted/CQC local area inspections and one about creating effective EHC Plans for young people with SEND (from the user’s perspective). There were also a couple of panel discussions. Most people seemed to be highlighting problems with the SEN system.
 
However, the end of the conference had a presentation from the well-known and respected Brian Lamb, who chaired The Lamb Inquiry in 2009 looking into parental confidence in the SEN system and who is  the current chair for ‘Achievement for All’.  
 
Brian’s presentation was entitled: ‘Priorities for the development of SEND provision in England’ and he started by saying that, as he had been was listening to the other speakers talk about the problems with the current system, that he had been taken back to 2005/2006 and the Education Select Committee’s Inquiry where they found that parents were really unhappy and that the SEN system was not working, because there were too many exclusions, too many Tribunals etc.
 
Brian pointed out that, although there were still many problems, we seemed to be only focussing on the difficulties and not recognising that there had been some improvements and felt that any parents would now not want to go back to the old system.  However, he did recognise that there was still a lot of work to do and that there were still a lot of Local Authorities (LAs) and schools still not doing things right.
 
Brian said (as he had done in the Lamb Inquiry) that although we should recognise that the  current SEND Code of Practice would benefit from being rewritten, we would not benefit from more legislation, as it was not about changing the law, as much as it was about holding people more accountable in law.  He said that we still needed to change the culture of the system to achieve better outcomes and that compliance won’t change people’s hearts and often parents will choose for their child to go to a school that was welcoming than one that was not. He repeated many times the need for us to ‘tweak’ the system rather than change it wholeheartedly and thought we could amend some things quickly like:

1. starting with schools and colleges and investing in them at the front end; 
2. listening to parents more and involving them in the whole process;
3. building more effective relationships between parents, schools and young people
4. having greater recognition of the role of SENCOs);
5. more training for frontline staff; 
6. looking at more strategic development with LAs;
7. better utilising current legislation
8. doing better school information reports (which he felt had sometimes now become a tick box exercise for too many schools);
9. a school information report being what it was supposed to be in terms of a strategic offer of what was available in that school; and 
10. the need for LAs to ask schools for better quality of those information reports.  

 
As the end of his presentation, Brian also spoke a lot about the SEN funding system and how this had fallen over many years, whilst trying to implement a new system, particularly for the post-16 section.  
 
So, although I was unable to attend the Conference personally, I benefitted greatly from reading the presentations afterwards and I hope this helps you in the same way.

“CAN YOU HELP ME PLEASE?”
 
As a result of my progressive physical disability and visual problems, I stopped driving a car many years ago. Now, although my office is only a few minutes’ drive away from my home, I have an arrangement with a local cab company, to sometimes pick me up and drop me, either from home to the office, or from office to home, on a door to door basis. As I am still able to walk a few steps, with the assistance of somebody beside me (or rather me hanging onto them for dear life!), I can do this usually, without having to use my wheelchair.
 
Although the cab company has a note on my account to say that I am physically disabled and can’t walk very much, so will need assistance,  which they pass on to the drivers coming to collect me (many of whom already know me), this information does not always filter down and so I need to remind them on each call when I book, to make sure that they tell the driver about my difficulties and to park as close as possible to the door, so that I only have a little way to negotiate.
 
I sometimes have to work late in the office and, this time, as my wife, Erica, was out and couldn’t get me, I rang for a cab, which they said would be about 5-10 minutes. As usual, I reminded them to tell the driver that I was disabled and to park as close as possible to my office. I was therefore pleasantly surprised when, after only after a couple of minutes, I received a call from the cab driver on my mobile phone to say that he had already arrived.  On this occasion, the driver didn’t speak very good English. I came out of my office and locked up, but to my surprise, he was not outside, as I thought he said.  I should also point out that it was a very cold evening and I do not do well in the cold, as my body seizes up.  
 
I called back the number in my calls list on my mobile phone and found that he had actually gone to the wrong place, but I could now spot him over the road and a little way up.   Struggling to make myself understood, I said to him that I could see him and waved my hand (difficult when you are trying to keep your balance) and asked him if he could see me.  He then said he knew where I was and, as I thought that was it now, I put the phone down. 
 
But instead of him pulling out of his parking space and driving towards me, he pulled out, drove in my direction, then turned into a side road and went off in a different direction!  I was not expecting this and quickly called him back again and asked him what he was doing.  
 
It took me a further few minutes to find out where he was now and to tell him how to get back to me (remember I was now very cold and still trying to stand). Eventually, I got the driver to come to where I was, but he then parked a bit away and, rather than getting out of his car, he stayed sitting in it waiting for me to come to him!  I, therefore called him again and said that I could not come to him and asked him if he could move his car nearer to me.
 
Fortunately, almost miraculously, at this same time, my friend, Mark, who lives around the corner from my office was passing by, walking home from the tube station. Mark could obviously could see from the look on my face that something was wrong.  He therefore came ovver to me and I explained to him what was happening.  Mark immediately went to the driver and explained that he needed to bring his car closer to me, which he then did. Mark and the driver now helped me get into the car with my bag.
 
Once I was settled sitting in the car, Mark looked at the driver and said: 
 
‘”Please be very careful with this man - he is very precious cargo!’ 
 
However, when we got to my home a few minutes later, even though I asked the driver now to put the car onto the driveway, so that I would not have so far to walk to the front door, he still parked it on the road outside my house and I then had to try and make myself understood again to explain that I needed to be a bit nearer. The driver re-parked his car on the driveway and now tried to help me out of the car and to the house.
 
But, unfortunately, he tried to manhandle me and made it much harder for me (I usually hold onto a person and walk at my own slow pace, but here he was grabbing me and pulling me at a faster rate than I could manage, so that I felt exhausted trying to keep up).
 
When I get to the door, the driver usually helps me open it and brings my things in, but now, because of the difficulties already experienced, I told him that he should just put my things down and I would get myself in.  He didn’t seem perturbed by this and, before I knew it and hadn’t even opened the door, he had got back in his cab and drove off.
 
The whole episode had taken about 20 minutes, which is a long time, given the fact that this trip usually takes just a few minutes. I was also by now freezing and it took me a few more minutes to try and put my key in the door, as I was shivering so much that I could not hold my key steady.
 
Sometimes people just don’t understand!

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by

• going to 'Spring Term 2018/19 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’ (if reading this on our website); or
• complete the survey under the ‘Feedback’ section (if reading this on the 'SEN.fyi' App).

There are just 3 quick questions.

​“I CAN’T GET UP!”
I returned a few days ago from doing another international bike ride on my specially-modified recumbent trike for the charity, Norwood, which helps children and young people with disabilities. I am glad to say that, together with friends, I managed to raise about another £21,500 for Norwood.
 
This time (my 9th), the ride was in Greece and we cycled just under 500 kilometres in 5 days to/from the beautiful city of Thessaloniki (Salonica) and also completely around the very hilly island of Thassos!
 
People ask me why I do so many rides for Norwood. One reason is that I like to do something that helps both me (in terms of keeping active and challenging my progressive disability) and that helps me also help other disabled people (in terms of raising money).
 
But one of the other reasons I do these rides, is that Norwood (who were the original charity that started fundraising through bike rides) also takes people with disabilities who it helps, on them, riding on the back of tandems ridden by other strong cyclists.

​It is very special and eye-opening riding with disabled people who you know will benefit from your fundraising. When you do a ride like this, where you share challenges everyday with other like-minded people, you really feel that you are making a difference. They say that you are also joining the Norwood 'family'!
 
As you may know from reading this section in my previous updates, these bike rides always seem to have funny things happening to me, as a disabled person using a wheelchair. I am also conscious that, whilst I often will reveal things to people, there is a lot I don’t tell sometimes - as I often hear from fellow riders:

“What goes on tour, stays on tour…”
 
As you may recall from my update at this time last year, I arrived on that bike ride to find that our airline had left my wheelchair back in England, so I had to spend the first few days without it (although I had one lent to me in the interim by the airport). ​This time, whilst I managed to get my wheelchair to Greece, unfortunately, the cushion that I sit on was left behind by accident in England. I therefore spent the week sitting about an inch or so lower in my wheelchair.
 
An added difficulty was that my cushion is ‘Velcro-ed’ to the seat of my wheelchair, so I then also found that with my Lycra cycling ‘bottoms’ on, I would stick to the wheelchair when I was sitting on it, which made it hard for me to get up again from my wheelchair when I needed to transfer to my trike!
 
My finding myself ‘Velcro-ed’ to my wheelchair was very amusing to everyone during the week and, after initially feel aggrieved by this, I also found myself eventually seeing the funny side of it.
 
One of the people who I have ridden with during the past few years is a young man with Down’s Syndrome called Nick, who has a great sense of humour and positive attitude to life, but who also has a speech impediment.
 
So it was even funnier when I found myself one day towards the end of the ride, experiencing real difficulty getting up from my wheelchair when Nick looked at me and said:
 
“Goes tour, stays tour!”          
                                
With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by

• going to 'Autumn (Half) Term 2018/19 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’ (if reading this on our website); or
• complete the survey under the ‘Feedback’ section (if reading this on the 'SEN.fyi' App).

There are just 3 quick questions.

"I STILL CAN’T WALK PROPERLY!’
As usual, I like to end my SEN update with a personal story as a disabled person using a wheelchair. This time I want to talk to you about difficulties that I face sometimes when flying.
 
Usually, (still sitting in my wheelchair), I am taken separately from the terminal on an 'ambulift' to the other side of the plane, which then rises to allow me to board the plane on the entrance opposite to the one that people usually enter. I then either manage to get down to my seat by holding onto people/things (for example, the back of a seat) or am transferred into an ‘aisle wheelchair’ (which is narrower than my wheelchair, which goes into the cargo hold) and pushed to my seat.
 
The disadvantage of doing this is that I often am the last one to board the plane and everybody is looking at me when I arrive, so I feel that I am keeping everyone waiting. It sometimes feels as though I am doing the ‘walk’ or ‘wheel’ of shame.
 
However, the advantage is that I am also the last one to leave the plane and so can sit down and relax for a couple of minutes more when we land while everybody gets their bags out of the overhead compartments and rush to get off (this always seems to me to be a bit of a false economy as they then only rush to get to the baggage carousel, where they still have to wait - so they have not saved any time in reality).
 
Anyway, on this occasion, I stayed behind as per usual and, whilst we were waiting for the ambulift to arrive, the pilots came out of their cabin and I was talking with them and the stewards/stewardesses. I expressed surprise that all the people who had joined me on the ambulift to get onto the plane were no longer there and I would be taken to the terminal by myself. 
 
One of the pilots smiled and said: ‘This always happens, you get a lot of people needing assistance at the beginning, but by the time we land they miraculously no longer need assistance’.
 
I replied: ‘I’ve got a bone to pick with you…’
 
They now all looked at me a bit worried.
 
I then continued:
 
‘I have been flying with you all these years and I still can’t walk properly when I arrive!’

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by

• going to 'Autumn Term 2018/19 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’ (if reading this on our website); or
• complete the survey under the ‘Feedback’ section (if reading this on the 'SEN.fyi' App).

YOU COULDN’T MAKE IT UP
As I run a national practice and represent parents of children and young people themselves with SEN, I find that I often have to travel around the country for hearings.

I always like to travel up the afternoon/evening before and stay close to the venue, so that I know that I will arrive fresh and in good time ready for the hearing the next morning. (I am afraid that, as a physically disabled person using a wheelchair, it can take me a couple of hours to get ready, as opposed to other people, who can catch a train in the morning, or be up and ready and checked out of their hotel within 15-30 minutes!)
 
I usually stay in a standard Travelodge or Premier Inn and book into a ‘disability’ room, as I know from experience that these are standardised and larger for me to move around in my wheelchair, as well as meeting other disability-friendly accessibility requirements. However, once in a while, I need to travel abroad by myself and book into a more standard hotel, but again in a ‘disability’ room.

Please believe me when I say that there is definitely no standard form of what a ‘disability’ room means in some countries and I have stayed in hotels in some countries where things are really accessible and well thought out, but I have also stayed in some real ‘dives’ where their idea of a ‘disability’ room is really nothing more than sticking up a grab rail in the bathroom! But the story that I want to share with you in this Update is when I found myself booked into a ‘boutique’ hotel (in their supposed ‘disability’ room).
 
From the outside and initial internal look of the hotel, there seemed to be nothing wrong and I was therefore quite looking forward to my (three-day) stay. Little did I know though, how difficult things would be for me…
 
I won’t bore you by telling you everything that I found challenging, but  although my room looked lovely when the porter opened the door for me (I needed help to bring my bag to the room), I immediately saw that there was no room in it for me to move about in my wheelchair. Fortunately, the porter immediately apologised and said he would take a large table and chairs out of the room.
 
But after he left and I then went to use the bathroom, I found that I could not really get into it in my wheelchair. After spending some time carefully manually manoeuvring myself around, I just managed to get in, but then found that the bathroom mirror had been put up too high for me to see myself in whilst sitting in my wheelchair and when I then went to have a shower to freshen up, I found that the towels had been folded and placed too high on a rail for me to be able to reach.

I therefore had to ring reception (who apologised again) to get someone to come to get the towels down for me. I then found that the shower did not have sufficient rails for me to hold onto for me to have a shower in safely (I was already quite tired, as I had been travelling all day and realised that I was by myself in a room where there was no emergency cord for me to call someone to help me, in case I slipped and fell (I will tell you another story about when this actually happened to me, in a future update). 

I bet you think that’s it, but I’m afraid that there’s more…
 
I went to bed and got up in the morning, feeling a lot fresher after a good night’s sleep. I managed to get into the bathroom, got dressed and went to breakfast, which I knew was served in a room on the roof. Imagine my surprise and disappointment though, to then find that the lift only took me to the floor one level below the roof and that there was a set of stairs for me to then negotiate to get me to the room serving breakfast.
 
I therefore had to get back in the lift and go down to reception personally (where I received another apology) who then arranged for me to have breakfast sent up to my room, to which I had to return to.

​And all of these same things happened to me again for the next two days.
 
That’s not how it’s meant to be!

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by

• going to 'Summer (Half) Term 2017/18 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’ (if reading this on our website); or
• complete the survey under the ‘Feedback’ section (if reading this on the 'SEN.fyi' App).

There are just 3 quick questions.

WHEN YOUR CHILD BECOMES YOUR FATHER...
My eldest child, Zachi, (who you may recall from previous updates recounting some of my international bike rides for charity), lives abroad.

​It was Zachi’s 21st birthday recently, so I flew out for a few days to celebrate with him (not an easy thing to do when you are physically disabled and use a wheelchair to get around!) (It also wasn’t a surprise for him, as there was too much pre-planning involved to get me there safely…)
 
On our last night together (we had celebrated his birthday with his friends on the first night I was there), we went out for a pizza. However, the restaurant was full inside, so we had a drink outside whilst we waited for a table to come free and ordered our pizza.
 
I usually only drink soft drinks when I am out in my wheelchair (I joke with people that I do not drink and drive!), so I ordered a bottle of Coke. Half of this was poured for me into a glass - I like to only drink half a glass of anything at a time, because I know that I have great difficulty with my fine motor skills & co-ordination and can easily knock things over.
 
Soon, a table became free and our drinks were carried inside and put on it, where our pre-ordered pizza was also now waiting for us. Zachi went to the bathroom and, trying to be helpful whilst he was gone for a few minutes, I decided to try and move things around a bit on the table to make it easier for us to eat. However (and I bet you’ve already guessed this), whilst trying to move things around, I inadvertently knocked over the half-full bottle of Coke, which then quickly went over most of the pizza.
 
I felt terrible and when Zachi returned, feeling like a naughty child, I told him about what I had done accidentally and apologised to him.
 
Zachi just looked at me with an exasperated but knowing look on his face and said:
 
“Can’t I even leave you for a minute?”

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by

• going to 'Summer Term 2017/18 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’ (if reading this on our website); or
• complete the survey under the ‘Feedback’ section (if reading this on the 'SEN.fyi' App).

There are just 3 quick questions.

GOING, GOING, GONE…
If you have read my last couple of updates, you should already know about the new annual SEN Law Conference that I am hosting jointly with IPSEA and Matrix Chambers, which is now almost upon us tomorrow on Tuesday 6 March 2018.
 
I am delighted to let you know that over 200 people have booked for this inaugural event, which is being held at The Law Society in London - bookings were actually filled up a few weeks ago and there has been an increasing waiting list ever since. 
 
If you are going to join us then you will be pleased to hear that you got in quickly but, on the other hand, if this is something you wanted to attend but did not book in time, you may be disappointed at not being able to go (and should make a note to apply early for next year’s 2019 event [again in March] when bookings start in Autumn 2018.
 
Fortunately, if you are in the latter category, there is some consolation in the fact that the Conference pack/papers (which I have seen and which is very good) can still be bought after the event for people to read in case they were not able to attend (for any reason). 
 
You can register your interest for somebody to contact you about this at: 
​http://www.senlawconference.co.uk/waiting-listconference-pack.html

Of course, you will get one anyway if you are coming tomorrow; and if you are there and see me, please make sure you stop me and say hello!

A SNEAK PREVIEW
Continuing with this topic, as I say, I have had a chance to see the SEN Law Conference pack/papers already and thought I would give you a bit of a sneak preview, as there are papers/ slides called:

• ‘SEN: A Year from a Parent’s Perspective’ (by Ali Fiddy from IPSEA);
• ‘SEND: ‘The Role of The Local Government Ombudsman’ (by Mick King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman);
• ‘SEND: ‘Moving Ahead – Priorities and Challenges’ (by André Imich, from the Department for Education);

• ‘Local Authorities and SEND: ‘Opportunities and Challenges’ (by Colin Diamond, Corporate Director, Children and Young People, Birmingham City Council);
• ‘Advocacy in the First-Tier Tribunal: Good Practice Tips’ (by me!);
• ‘SEND Tribunal: Challenges and Opportunities’ (by Judge Jane McConnell, from the SEND Tribunal);
• ‘Disability Discrimination and School Exclusions’ (by Sarah Hannett, from Matrix Chambers); and
• ‘SEN Case-Law Update’ (by David Wolfe QC, from Matrix Chambers). 

 
There will also be some individual and panel question and answer sessions and a chance for networking. 
 
I know from personal experience that it is extremely difficult sometimes to keep up to date with everything about SEN law (even for someone like me who only concentrates on this area); so, if you are joining us tomorrow then I am sure it will prove a very important and fascinating day. 
 
However, if you are not going to be able to join us, then I encourage you to obtain the conference pack at least (and if you wanted to attend, but were unable to book a place in time), I suggest that you book as early as possible for next year’s conference!

HOW MUCH?
As a physically disabled wheelchair user, with co-ordination and eyesight difficulties, I have not been able to drive a car myself for many years now. As I also find using public transport quite difficult (overground trains are better, but using the London Underground and buses still tends to be quite hard or even impossible for me), I have had to use taxis/cabs a lot during this time.
 
I like to think that I am quite a sociable person and can establish a good rapport with drivers quite quickly, as I need to ask them to help me either to get me into their vehicle in my wheelchair (via a ramp), or assist me into their vehicle’s ordinary seats and then put my wheelchair into the boot (I usually travel in an MPV/people carrier, so that my wheelchair does not have to be collapsed, as it has been damaged too many times in that way).
 
During the past week or so, I have had to do a lot of travelling around the country for various SEND Tribunal hearings/events and have therefore had to spend a lot of my time in taxis/cabs. So, I want to share with you today, a story that happened to me a few years ago, that I was reminded of when re-telling the story to a parent whose hearing I attended earlier that day, whilst waiting with them for my cab to arrive to take me to the train station to return home...
 
I always try to book a hotel near the train station/hearing venue (so that I do not have to travel too far when I arrive the evening before a hearing or to get to the venue the next morning) - I am afraid that I am one of those people who try to get to places as early as possible (although I know that I sometimes fail miserably because of all the hassles that I go through!) 
 
On this occasion, I arrived later than I hoped, but when I did, I was helped to get an (ordinary but accessible) cab by a member of staff at the train station, which came after a few minutes and I managed to get into fairly quickly.  The hotel that I was staying as was only a few minutes away from the station and we also arrived fairly quickly. 
 
When I got out of the cab, I turned to the driver and asked him how much it would be.  I was extremely surprised when he then told me that it would be £25.
 
‘How much? I asked, ‘…it has only been a very short journey!’
 
‘I know’ he replied,  ‘…but you are in a wheelchair’ he then said to my astonishment.
 
I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing, but I responded and told him immediately that he was messing with the wrong person; and said that he should immediately get his manager on his phone for me to speak to. 
 
He was clearly a bit surprised about getting this response from someone who he had probably previously perceived as a weak, disabled person in a wheelchair and then made (what I felt was) the pretence of going to the other side of his vehicle and getting his mobile phone out.

He returned somewhat sheepishly a few minutes later to say that he had not been able to speak to his manager, but had decided that, as I had not been told that there would be an increased price for me as I was using a wheelchair, he would only charge me £10 for the journey!
 
Although I felt that this was still me being overcharged, it was late and I wanted to get into my hotel room as soon as possible, in order to rest for as much time as possible for the hearing next day and so I paid it (I did get a receipt from him written on the back of the taxi company’s card). I also wanted to spend no more time with him now after being treated in this way.
 
I soon became conscious afterwards and have been since then, that another disabled person using a wheelchair, who did not have as much confidence as me, would have probably ended up paying the £25 to him, because they would probably feel quite vulnerable.
 
It still amazes me to think that, even in this day and age, there are still people out there who will try to take advantage of disabled people like me in this way…
​
With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by

• going to 'Spring (Half) Term 2017/18 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’ (if reading this on our website); or
• complete the survey under the ‘Feedback’ section (if reading this on the 'SEN.fyi' App).

“CAN’T YOU USE ANOTHER PARKING SPACE?”
I always like to end these ‘SEN Updates’ with a personal story, from my perspective as a physically disabled person using a wheelchair. In this update, I want to share with you a situation that I seem to encounter on an almost daily basis - parking spaces that are reserved for disabled people, being used by non-disabled people, which means that I cannot use them.

You will be very surprised about the amount of times that this happens to me, even though I no longer am able to drive...
 
Let me say from the outset, that I do realise that there are a number of people out there who have ‘invisible’ disabilities, which may make them look like they do not need to use a disabled car parking space (e.g. chronic medical conditions that significantly impair normal activities of their daily living, but who may show no outward signs of their condition), but they usually have validly been provided with a ‘Blue Badge’ exemption.

I also realise that there are non-disabled people who sometimes need to use a disabled car parking space from time to time, because they are with a disabled person who they need to easily drop off or pick up, who sometimes may not be validly displaying a ‘Blue Badge’. 
 
Unfortunately though, there are lots of non-disabled people who innocently think that it is perfectly alright to park their car in a disabled parking place, either when they are still sitting in their car, to say, pick up or drop somebody somewhere, or also when they say they are only popping out for a minute to pick someone/something up.

They will often say, when asked, that they are happy to move their car  - but that misses the point, I (or someone on my behalf) shouldn’t have to ask them in the first place, as they should not have parked there anyway!
 
Parking in disabled spaces when you are non-disabled is similar to those people who do not have children with them who park in the ‘family’ reserved car parking spaces in supermarket car parks.  This is also a subject that I know that upsets many people – in fact, a friend told me once that someone who was without children refused to move from a space when she (who had her children in her car) asked, because the person said that, even though they were not with her, she had children at home! (You couldn’t make that up).
 
But what seems to cause most difficulties and what I am really talking about here, is non-disabled people who just park in a disabled parking space without a ‘Blue Badge’, often purely because they do not want to have to walk too far somewhere or, worst of all, non-disabled people who park in a disabled car parking space and display a fraudulent ‘Blue Badge’ or one that they have ‘borrowed’ from somebody else.

The regulations as to the way you can use a disabled car parking space by only displaying a ‘Blue Badge’ validly are actually quite detailed; I have even known of some cases where disabled people who have a valid ‘Blue Badge’ have sometimes found that they have still been ticketed wrongly, because they displayed it incorrectly and/or a traffic warden or similar has not seen it.
 
My experience is that too often I am faced by non-disabled people blocking disabled car parking spaces unlawfully and without good reason. The surprising thing to me is that when I (or usually others on my behalf) then tell them that I need the space, in order to avoid the difficulty of walking or pushing myself to the entrance of the place I need to get to, I find that, on many occasions, these non-disabled people can become quite aggressive, even though they may have been asked politely to move. You will be amazed at the amount of bad language and behaviour that I have witnessed over the years, usually directed at others on my behalf.
 
I have also noticed that it is usually other people who seem to get more upset for me about a non-disabled person (or somebody looking non-disabled) using the space without displaying a ‘Blue Badge’, and it is actually then me that needs to point out to them that the other person may have an ‘invisible’ disability that we do not know about. 
 
Non-disabled people parking in disabled spaces with/without a ‘Blue Badge’ is something that irks a lot of people around me. I often find people I am with wanting to retaliate/have a go at people who do this, and wanting to make the point that they (the other people) are non-disabled and could park their cars somewhere else and walk, whereas I cannot. For example, my wife, Erica, has even sometimes asked someone who is not willing to move if they want to come and look at my wheelchair in the back of our car (which, unsurprisingly, no-one has ever wanted to), but usually they have just ignored or pretended not to hear her and quickly walked away from their parked car – it is as if they do not want to hear or see the problem that they have caused, as if it then doesn’t exist or matter – ‘out of sight, out of mind’ as they say.
 
Erica and others around me often remonstrate with people when they see them doing this and like to point out to them that they are being incredibly selfish by not thinking of other people. I even remember one very fit and strong looking young man in the gym car park walking away after parking his car in a disabled space and not looking back when he was asked to move (probably due to embarrassment), saying that he didn’t want a fight - again, it is like a form of denial by doing this as, if you do not look at it, you can possibly pretend that it is not happening. I have also noticed that the offending non‑disabled people often try to not make any eye contact with me (again, probably  due to  embarrassment). They just try to ignore me and pretend that I am not there. It gives another meaning to the phrase 'invisible disability'!
 
I have also noticed that, when somebody realises that they may be doing something wrong, they are usually already very defensive, even before you say anything to them; it is almost as if they are ready for a fight, as they become immediately aggressive (some may say that this is just them being ‘defensive’). I have found from experience, that the best way to approach this situation usually is to quickly try to deflate it, by being as nice as possible and trying to ask them as politely as possible, if I can use the space (I find that saying that you need it more than them, or at the gym [which I have to go to train for health reasons] and I am tempted to say that, if they are going to the gym, they should be more able to walk than I am, does not usually tend to end well, as they often become even more aggressive).
 
Non-disabled people do not seem to realise how difficult it can be for someone like me who is physically disabled, to have to ask them to move, especially if I know that I will be met with a very hostile or defensive reaction. When you think about it, I sometimes cannot even speak to them without first getting the car that I am in to sometimes have to park a long way away and then make my way back (usually slowly) to where they are to speak to them – this is even more frustrating when I found that they or their car has then gone.

It has also placed me in a dilemma sometimes when I see people who I know and like, doing something wrong like this, as I know that telling on them would get them into trouble, because they are parking somewhere that they shouldn’t, often by using a forged or someone else’s ‘Blue Badge’.
 
My favourite situation though is when there are no other spaces free, and I/another person asks politely if a non-disabled driver can move their car from the disabled car parking space which they are blocking, they just ask: ‘Can’t you find another parking space?’
 
The point that I want to get over is that, rather than telling people that they shouldn’t do this sort of thing after the event, I really hope that people will learn from what I am saying here and not do this in the first place.
 
Just like other things I have talked about in this update, it gives you something to think about…

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by

• going to 'Spring Term 2017/18 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’ (if reading this on our website); or
• complete the survey under the ‘Feedback’ section (if reading this on the 'SEN.fyi' App).

There are just 3 quick questions.

THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT (NEW SEN LAW CONFERENCE)
Some of you will know that for over two decades, Jordan Publishing has held an annual SEN Law and Practice Conference ever year, usually in the first week of March. 
 
Personally, I have spoken for Jordans (as it has come to be known) for the past 13 years, and have actually also always attended the whole day-long conference myself, as I have always found it very useful to hear from other speakers/practitioners in the SEN field about what is happening about SEN law.
 
The Jordans conference has historically always been well-attended, (people working in the SEN field also see it as a ‘must got to’ networking event), with a range of excellent speakers, not only solicitors, barristers and Judges working in the SEN field, but representatives from Government, Local Authorities (LAs) and parental organisations. It has always had its 'finger on the pulse' of SEN and there have always been good sessions providing analysis of SEN practice and procedures, together with good casework updates, to name but a few things. However, the Jordans conference has also been said to be too expensive for some people.
 
Unfortunately, Jordans were taken over last year prior to their (now) last conference. Their new owners have decided to no longer hold an annual SEN conference from 2018.

But I am glad to say that I have now joined up with the education law barristers from Matrix Chambers and also the charity, IPSEA (Independent Parental Special Educational Advice), in order to now stage a new annual SEN Law conference, which we plan to launch and take place next Spring in London on Tuesday 6 March 2018.
 
The venue and speakers are not confirmed as of yet, but what I can tell you so far is that it, again:

1. will be a full day conference with lunch included;
2. will be less costly than Jordan’s conferences;
3. will have more (including different) speakers than Jordans;
4. will have good handouts (similar to Jordans);
5. will still attract Continuing Professional Development hours.

 
I am very excited about this venture. We are hoping to not only attract the same audience as before (i.e.lawyers and those from schools/colleges/LAs/parents organisations etc.), but now also make it more accessible to as many other people as possible (both parents and professionals). 
 
We are hoping that it will again also become the ‘must go to’ event for anyone working or interested in SEN law (whether personally or professionally) and that it will also serve as a valuable opportunity for different (and similar) people in the field of SEN to get together once a year, in the years to come. 
 
We are not sure as of yet how many people will be coming and whether we should hold the conference just in London, or should also put it on again in somewhere like Manchester (we realise that many seminars/conferences are in London and can be very expensive (both in time or cost) for those commuting from the north to attend).

THINGS WE DON’T (BUT SHOULD) TALK ABOUT ​(MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES)
This section of my update is a bit different from my normal ones (for example, where I like to share information, try to put forward a solution to a problem or give an analysis of something).

Today, I really just want to highlight an issue that has been on my mind a lot these past few years, so that we can hopefully start to talk about it. I guess that I really just want to also get people thinking about it a bit more.
 
The world has really changed a lot in the past decade or two, hasn’t it -  mainly with the advent of rapid advancements of new technology, particularly through the increasing access to and use of the internet. It is almost like there has been a quiet revolution going on and we have just accepted it!

I certainly do not criticise the proliference of the internet with the now immediate access to the vast amounts of information we have at our finger tips, together with our ability to use emails, smartphones, tablets etc., but I have also seen a rapid rise in the use (and misuse) of Social Media.

This seems to have now become an almost obsessive compulsion for many children and young people during the past decade or so, even though many Social Media tools have not really been around for that long (it may surprise you to learn that Facebook actually only launched in 2004 and Twitter in 2006, but others like Instagram only started in 2010 and Snapchat in 2011). But we have seen the rise during this time of substantially more mental health difficulties in children and young people (mainly teenagers, although teenage years can now seem to sometimes start during primary school!), especially during the past 5-10 years. 

I know that many people put this down to the increased use of Social Media, which I tend to agree with - I have seen these pressures on children and young people (for example, their peers posting pictures of themselves having a good time at parties or places, where other people feel that they are missing out [I believe that this is called ‘FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out’], but I think that mental health issues  also go a bit wider than this and that this may only be part of the story.
 
For example, I have now seen how children and young people of today seem to be expected to grow up too quickly sometimes. They often feel from a young age that the future also seems quite bleak for them, in terms of getting qualifications, getting a job, or getting on to the property ladder, let alone making it to university and being saddled with substantial debt for the rest of their life. These were not really concerns for those of us in past generations, where we did not necessarily think of these things as problems, or did not necessarily think of them at all until later in life.
 
Which leads me onto what I want to say today about mental health issues...
 
As I see it, the children and young people of today have it much harder and now face many more issues than those of us who have come before in previous generations. I think that we therefore need to be sensitive to this. I also know that there are many children and young people (and their families) also experiencing mental health issues everyday which, because they are not often talked about, only seems to add even more pressure onto them. 
 
It always strikes me as ironic, how people often openly feel sorry for other people who are physically ill or injured, but who do not seem to extend that same care and empathy/sympathy to people who are experiencing mental difficulties. There is almost an implication that they are somehow ‘lesser’ people because they cannot cope. I know that in my parent’s generation, people did not really speak about mental health issues. Although it was more openly discussed in my generation, I have seen that in my children’s generation now, mental health issues are even more openly talked about, but perhaps still not enough.
 
However, when you really think about it, it is quite remarkable sometimes how we often don’t notice children and young people (or even adults) struggling with these types of difficulties, but yet they still have to try every minute of the day to overcome their anxieties and behave in a ‘normal’ way, so that they can attend school/college/work. 
 
I have also seen a real build-up in the cases of children and young people with mental health issues that I now have to deal with, mainly in terms of them becoming ‘school-phobic’, having anxiety or even more attachment issues.  Unfortunately, I have also noticed that many people (including professionals who you think should know better), still don’t seem to understand or realise properly the deep extent of these difficulties.
 
For example, I have seen parents struggle to get their children into school, who are then thought of as not being good parents. Or I have found educational professionals not really understanding or appreciating the anxieties and stresses that children and young people often go through, just to get into school or college; and to then realise that they should adopt a more positive stance with them (i.e. praise them for getting there, rather than concentrating on the times when they have not able to make it there, for whatever reason), as otherwise they are actually putting more pressures on them than they are already facing (perhaps putting on themselves).
 
We also have to realise how as adults (both parents and professionals) that we can sometimes make a ‘flippant’ remark or throwaway line without thinking, but this can have serious implications and ramifications for a child or young person for many years to come.

I am very concerned that we don’t (but should) talk about mental health issues more and try to understand them better - by not only looking at treating the ‘symptoms’ but also the root causes sometimes.
 
Hope that I haven’t upset anybody by speaking about this here, but I thought it important for me to say.

​IT ALWAYS SEEMS TO HAPPEN TO ME, DOESN’T IT?
If you have read my SEN updates in previous years, you will probably know that, as a physically disabled person who uses a wheelchair (I have a degenerative condition known as Cerebellar Ataxia), I also have a ‘personal’ side to what I do, where I like to raise funds for Norwood, a charity that supports children and young people with disabilities.

I have done this over the years by doing a number of international, week-long, bike rides, using a specially-modified recumbent trike (which is attached to a ‘normal’ cycle in front of me, where a front-rider can steer and brake for me, as I also have visual and co-ordination problems). Well, a couple of weeks ago, I successfully completed my eighth international bike ride, this time in Israel (again), with my ride this year having the catchy title of: ‘Dead Sea to Red Sea’.

Again, I did the ride with my son, Zachi, (whose fourth time it was) but, as it was also Norwood’s 25th year of doing these ‘challenges’, they actually staged three different simultaneous bike rides and also a trek coming into the southernmost tip called Eilat (the two other rides were one in Jordan, called: ‘The Road To Petra’ and another one called: ‘North to South’ for fast riders, who were attempting to ride through the whole of Israel in just 5 days!)

And for a second time now, my friend, Sam (Cohen), who also has a progressive condition called Usher Syndrome, where he has lost all of his sight now over the years, after growing up being partially hearing, did ‘North to South’, again on the back of a tandem. Also, for the first time, my wife, Erica, did the trek - which was far more challenging for her than what we did (she was climbing up and down mountains without ropes!)

Together with a few others (especially as Sam and I need people to assist us), we raised over £20,000 and the whole set of events (which included about 250 people), has been said to have raised over £800,000! (it is not too late to sponsor us, which you can do here).
 
But rather than talking to you about the ride this time, I want to share with you something else that happened to me that week, which I think you may find amusing (although I assure you that it didn’t seem amusing to me at the time!)
 
As we were all buckled in and about to leave London on the aeroplane, we experienced a delay and were then told over the speakers by the captain that they had to remove 30 cases because the plane was overweight. 

I had been the last on to the plane because they had taken me in an ‘ambulift’ separately (the vehicle that comes to the other side of the aircraft, which is used for the easy planing and deplaning of passengers who are incapacitated, have mobility difficulties, or who use wheelchairs), so that I could stay in my electric/powered wheelchair until the last minute (I like having my own independence).  They then take my wheelchair from me when I board the plane, to put in the cargo hold so that it will be first off to meet me at the other end – this is all very normal.
 
But I then spent the whole journey thinking only that I hoped that it had not been my case that had been taken off, as I may then not be able to start the ride with the others the next day, as it had all my cycling gear in it. I did not give it a thought that my wheelchair may not be there to meet me.
 
However, you guessed it! When we reached the destination airport in Israel, my wheelchair was not there to meet me when I arrived. I was then told that my wheelchair would be taken straight into the airport (this has not happened at that airport before to me) and I was asked in the meantime to sit in a most uncomfortable, manual (i.e. people had to push me) and very ‘medical’ wheelchair, to take me from the plane to the baggage carousel until it was found (I am afraid that I take it quite seriously as to what I sit in and like being as independent as possible – imagine it being you choosing what car you drive and being able to drive yourself; not having to always ask others to help you – even to push you to the bathroom!)
 
At the baggage carousel though I then discovered that, not only was my wheelchair still not to be found, but my case now was also not there. We then eventually found that it looked like both my case and my wheelchair had been left in London. I was assured that the suitcase and wheelchair would be on the next flight out and was now lent another (manual and uncomfortable) wheelchair in the meantime to use, whilst representatives from Norwood had to wait for many hours at the airport, whilst I, together with other cyclist/trekkers were ‘bussed’ to our overnight accommodation.

Although my case was later found and brought to me at about 1.30am during the night, so that at least I could start riding with everyone else the next morning, my wheelchair did not arrive. 
 
The next morning though, although I was then dressed appropriately for the ‘off’, just as we were about to start, the rider who I was attached to was nowhere to be seen and then we heard panicked calls for medics (there were some allocated to our ride) because a rider had fainted. Yes, you guessed it again; the rider who had fainted was the person who was supposed to be attached to my trike from the start!
 
One rider then came up to me and said: ‘You’re really not very lucky, are you - first, you lose your wheelchair, then you lose your bag and now you lose your front rider - perhaps somebody is trying to tell you something?’ to which we both laughed (my front-rider was later found to be alright and to probably have a ‘bug’).
 
Although I was assured again that day and the next morning that my wheelchair would be brought to me, it actually did not appear until the third night (I was woken from my sleep to take possession of it and apparently asked whilst half-asleep: ‘Am I dreaming?’) 
 
One of the other riders also amused me when he said that this had all probably started as there been a baggage handler who had been asked to remove some weight from the aircraft and was looking at the bags and my wheelchair and saying ‘case?, wheelchair?, case?, wheelchair?……wheelchair!’
 
I know that a number of people were in contact with the airline about this (I have seen the emails) and I have been assured that the airline concerned is going to be making a sizeable donation to Norwood, so at least some good may come out of this very bizarre situation. 
 
However, it’s a bit absurd when you think about!

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by

• going to 'Autumn (Half) Term 2017/18 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’ (if reading this on our website); or
• complete the survey under the ‘Feedback’ section (if reading this on the 'SEN.fyi' App).

WHEN YOU NEED TO GO…
I always like to end my SEN updates with personal stories from my perspective as a disabled person using a wheelchair.

This time I want to share with you the frustrations that I often feel (or other people with me usually feel even more than I do) when non-disabled people use the disabled toilet, which leaves me having to wait (this section of my update today is longer than usual).
 
Due to the nature of my condition, I sometimes need to use the toilet fairly quickly when I am out.  But sometimes it can take some time to locate a disabled toilet - it is not unknown for me to have to spend a good 15 minutes having to hunt around a building to get to one (and, on the way, having to get people to help me by opening doors or similar, or allow me through hidden passages to gain access).
 
I even sometimes find that when I eventually get there, the ‘disabled toilet’ is actually not accessible to me at all and I struggle to get in there with my wheelchair, as it has been made so carelessly.  It is even not unheard of sometimes that I have had to get out of my wheelchair and leave it outside, in order to be able to get into the toilet itself!
 
Another example is the disabled toilet being used as a store-room or not being maintained properly. For example, one venue (for hearings that I have been to at the Royal Courts of Justice, no less), did not have a light replaced in it for many months, meaning that I have to find my way around it in the near dark (not so easy when you also have a visual impairment).  It still baffles me how people can actually think that these are really accessible toilets?
 
Disabled toilets for some years (such as at train stations) are locked and need a ‘Radar’ key to open (a universal system which means disabled people can buy one to keep, or easily obtain a key from a member of staff (to prevent misuse by other people). However, generally, disabled toilets are left open and therefore able to be used by non-disabled people, as well as disabled people. But I never used a disabled toilet when I was a non-disabled person earlier in my life (I became disabled about 13 years ago) and you would think that other non-disabled people would also not?
 
But this is not so in my experience. They often do not say anything when they come out and are usually extremely embarrassed when they see a chap in a wheelchair waiting to use it after them, so they then try and open the door for me so that I can go in.  I sometimes do not say anything, because I do not want to make them feel bad about what they have done, but I have sometimes pointed out to them politely that, whilst they can use the ‘normal’ toilets available to them, I cannot.
 
Of course, I do not expect toilets to always be available to me, when I need to ‘go’. I am always prepared to wait my turn if another disabled person is using the toilet [please also remember that, even though that person may not look disabled physically at first glance [such as is obvious with me when I am sitting in my wheelchair], they may still have an ‘invisible disability’ which requires them to use the disabled toilet).
 
But I am talking about situations where it is fairly obvious that a non-disabled person is using the only disabled toilet meant for disabled people, usually because they find the extra space in it bigger (which is to make it easier for people like me who use wheelchairs), or because it is generally cleaner (ironically, the worst culprits I usually come across using disabled toilets are actually the cleaners themselves!)
 
When I do eventually locate a disabled toilet, I sometimes find that someone else is using it and, when they do, I invariably find that it is a non-disabled person, who usually works in the building (e.g. a worker in the offices [often from another floor] or another employee [e.g. I sometimes find this at my gym]). 
 
They can be quite embarrassed when they come out and see me waiting to use it and often appear quite sheepish, then look down and try and get away as quickly as possible. However, I have also found that some people can become quite defensive and try and pretend that they have done nothing wrong (although ironically, this makes it even more obvious that they know that they have been found out]). 
 
In any event, I find that, whatever happens, it can cause me further delay in me being able to use the toilet. I have also found that one of the most common forms of denial is when people convince themselves that it is alright to use a disabled/accessible toilet when they need to use a toilet. 
 
So I want to share a story with you today which happened to me a few years ago…
 
I was at a large exhibition. When I eventually located one of the few disabled toilets (there was only one I could eventually find after quite a bit of searching), I found that someone was already in it. I therefore waited patiently, having to listen to noises emanating from the toilet from someone soon using a hand-dryer. 
 
Usually, when you hear this, the person comes out soon afterwards, but this time they didn’t and I then heard the dryer sound a few more times on and off, with the sound of a deodorant (or perfume) being sprayed. This went on for over 10 minutes more than I expected.
 
When the door eventually opened, I saw that it was opened by a young woman who seemed to have been using the disabled toilet as her own personal bathroom to put on her make-up, get ready, or generally preen herself.  She was obviously quite shocked when she came out and saw me waiting there.
 
I have already said above, that sometimes I point out to the person that they could have used one of the [usually many other] ordinary toilets, but I can only use this one.  But I have also found, over the years, that sometimes the most effective way to get my message across is actually to say nothing. 
 
So, on this occasion, although the woman tried to hold the door open for me to go in, I didn’t take her up on her offer and did not even move. I just waited for her to leave and get even more embarrassed before eventually skulking away, saying to myself that I was not going to say or do anything to try and make her feel better.
 
A bit harsh, I know, but sometimes you need to make a point, don’t you?
 
But as I say, when you need to go…

With good wishes

​Douglas
P.S. I always find it helpful to find out what people think about my updates, so please take a few seconds to tell me what you think by

• going to 'Autumn Term 2017/18 'SEN Update – Your Thoughts’ (if reading this on our website); or
• complete the survey under the ‘Feedback’ section (if reading this on the 'SEN.fyi' App).

There are just 3 quick questions.