Discrimination against my asd son

[hollymax1]

Hi all,. I have just joined today as I was looking for advice. My little boy has recently been diagnosed with Asperger's. He attends a mainstream school and is in P2. The school trip is coming up and o have been advised that he will not be able to attend unless I go with him as they do not have the resources for him and he could pose a risk. I don't want him missing out soon have take the day off. However, I had a bit of an accident over the weekend and have been bedbound. They have said if I can't make it he can't go. Is this a normal thing for schools? Sorry for the long post. I have told my husband I don't care if I end up crippled I'll go just as a don't want him missing out

schoolleaders.thekeysupport.com/ this is also worth reading.

This is also from the National Autistic Society with regard to your son's meltdowns.

A loophole in the Equality Act meant schools didn’t have to make reasonable adjustments for disabled children when they had a 'tendency to physical abuse' - even when that was caused by a lack of appropriate support. However, this loophole no longer applies and allowances should be made for behaviour that is due to a pupil being autistic and their needs not being met. Schools need to ensure that reasonable adjustments are made to allow students to fully participate in their education.

But they can argue that reasonable adjustment is taking the parent or other safe adult along on the trip in order to keep them safe.

I think it’s one of those situations where you need to be realistic about what is actually best for the child and is being taken on a trip where you know they may struggle without someone who really gets them when it comes to being ojt of the classroom really for the best?

A reasonable adjustment can be

• paying for a taxi, going in SMT's car or allowing the child to be on a less busy bus (75 children on a coach= madness)
• child accessing videos, brochures and maps of the site in the weeks beforehand
• child being provided with detailed itinerary of the day
• 3 TAs/ members of staff being allocated to the child with a 2-1 ratio (3rd adult allows breaks)
• child may not participate in full workshops but be allowed quiet time in the park/ soft play area

Unfortunately it often comes down to numbers and the school may simply not have the bodies.

OP also needs to be very careful, because as cruel as it sounds, insisting that her DS goes on the trip may really damage her relationship with the school.

The law is there to protect autistic children. The school should have mention of the Equality Act in their behaviour policy. Why should op's ds miss out on a school trip because of his disability? If he was physically disabled then I am sure people would be out raged school didn't have provision for him.

I am 1-1 with a young man at the moment and I would not feel it was safe to have him off site without a ratio of 2 or 3 -1 if that required a parent to be called in then so be it. He is likely to harm himself or others without warning so that has to be taken into account.

Is your ds likely to struggle with the trip?
If he is how beneficial do you think him going is? You are best placed to judge this.
If the school do not have the staffing ratios to keep him safe without parental support do you still want him to go?
It sounds like a really poor situation for your family but equally the school may just not have the staff cover to provide one to one for your dc.
Try talking to the school and explain your current situation.

Also this from the National Autistic Society

A meltdown is ‘an intense response to overwhelming situations’’_. It happens when someone becomes completely overwhelmed by their current situation and temporarily loses behavioural control. This loss of control can be expressed verbally (eg shouting, screaming, crying), physically (eg kicking, lashing out, biting) or in both ways.
Autism meltdowns are not the same as temper tantrums
A meltdown is not the same as a temper tantrum. It is not bad or naughty behaviour and should not be considered as such.

This means even if behaviour is challenging the child shouldn't be discriminated against and support should be put in place for them to access the same educational opportunities as a non disabled child.

I agree with the others, as disappointing as it may be for your son not to go, the school must take into consideration the needs and safety of all children attending. If they don't have the support for your DS then it's not safe for him to attend - would you actually want him to go in those circumstances?

It's totally normal for schools to ask for parental support on school trips as they need a lot of additional help on those days, so if you attending is what they need to support your DS, then so be it. It may be you going allows the 3-1 ratio that others have talked about.

It's a pity you're injured but that's not the schools fault and why should the other children miss out as I guess the only alternative is to cancel the trip altogether?

Talk to the school, find out what the risk assessment said and if there's any other way around it. Good luck as it's not easy, so no easy answers unfortunately, especially when schools have limited budgets.

I completely get that lemon but school staff can't just be wished into being and the only fair response may be to cancel the school trip for the whole class. That is likely to cause upset and problems of its own.
Discussions for future trips can look at what reasonable adjustments can be made so that OP's ds can attend if he wishes to.

It's still discrimination which breaks the law, that's what the Equality Act is.

The school had tried to create a plan that would allow ds to attend. Sickness has prevented this which is a real shame but a member of staff could have been sick with the same result.

I feel this kind of thing highlights the gap in funding between what's available and what's needed for children with SEN to attend mainstream school.

Studies show that genuine inclusion is beneficial for all children (NT and SEN). But the reality is that the funding system means children with SEN rarely get fully included. And it often means that parents of children with SEN have further burdens on their time and resources during school hours as well as out of school hours.

I hope you can make this work this time and hope the school can accommodate your DC better in the future.

As parents of autistic children we shouldn't have to accept the law being broken and them not having the same opportunities as everyone else. You wouldn't accept discrimination against your child so why should I?
This is the same as discriminating against someone because of their gender, race, sexual orientation or religion. If a child was told they couldn't go on a trip because they were a Muslim and had to have parental support because of it, rightfully there would be uproar. But because autism is a hidden disability it matters less to people. Also there is a stigma in society regarding autism. Autistic people do not matter less. The law agrees with me on that.

I doubt it would be classed as breaking the law as school can show they have tried to make reasonable adjustments. The key word is reasonable and part of that will be bound by staff availability

Sirzy, read my posts. It is against the law.

You absolutely shouldn't have to accept the law being broken lemon, both ds and I have required additional support in school due to disabilities.
But having worked in another very under funded statutory area I have a lot of sympathy for the school. It isn't their fault that they are not funded well enough to provide the level of care and support that would enable inclusion without parental support. It is far to easy to just insist the school pull off the impossible but without proper funding this just isn't possible, law or no law.

My son has physical disabilities and he manages ok on school trips with a bit of extra support which school provides but fun stuff like hobbies, playschemes etc he either can't or isn't allowed to do mainstream activities.

Like I said I don’t agree. They haven’t simply said “he can’t come” but they have tried to make reasonable adjustment within the bounds of what they can do.

And let’s not also forget that for many young people with autism being in a strange environment on a trip is going to be hard so having a safe person like a parent there is also going to help them massively

In an ideal world schools would be able to conjour up as many members as staff as they needed and whatever else was needed. But back in the real world....

Not patronising at all sirzy... when is the law not the real world?🤦🏻‍♀️

The law says reasonable adjustment has been made. The reasonable adjustment in this case would be for the school to take a parent on the trip aswell to keep the child safe.

@Lemonsquinky how have they broken the law? They’re not refusing to take him because he’s autistic but because they can’t meet his needs with reasonable adjustments. Which is lawful.

I have taken all this on board. Only the previous trip to this one have we been advised he can't go if either myself or DH can't attend. Every other trip he has been fine, no issues and was never asked to attend. It has only been since his official diagnosis this has started

Reasonable adjustments dont just mean do the same trip you always do and risk assess them and say you have to have a parent come or not come. Right at the planning stage you look at your cohort and plan an outing that can be managed. Where i work the animals trip varies from major busy city zoo, to very small local farm in small groups depending on cohort. Or there are several castles, one with better disabled access so they go to that one when a person has mobility issues but a different one when everyone is mobile as it has more castley features.
I think it probably is too late for this trip but future ones they really need to acknowledge this. I dont know what the issue is for your child and so dont do anything thst puts him under stress or danger but push for more creativity with the next trip if you believe he can do them.