anyone ever tried to bring discrimination case against school for dyslexia?

[shelsco]

No idea if this would be a good idea or not. Dad is 15, in year 10. Has diagnosis of mild to moderate dyslexia and auditory processing disorder. School wont accept his needs as he has always achieved quite well tho there has been evidence in their data and reports that comply with jcq's regs. He is dropping one to two grades in mock exams (and one gcse) due to lack of time and looking at guidance to Equality Act he definitely seems to qualify as having a disability. school wont act on (independent) assessments and become academy in September so dont think any complaint will be investigated fairly. No one seems to talk much about discrimination claims. Just wondered if anyone has any words of advice regarding likelihood of success, costs etc etc? Going mad here. School blatantly disregarding rules and have made it clear that they have no intention of backing down whatever the evidence.only thin I can think of is discrimination claim but need to submit claim in a matter of months so need info quickly!

Hi shelsco,

Disability discrimination is has been rife in the UK education system for years.
The problem is money, poorly trained teachers, and and incompetant education system, which is more about politics.
Unfornately our education system is becoming more and more outdated and behind international research has to how the brain develops, the various strengths, weaknesses we may all have regarding how we processing various types of sesnory information.

I am adult who has APD, and the discrimination exists, so waht chance will children have who are not best able to self advocate.

You could have a look at the "Brain Development and Maturation" research paper collection listed on the APDUK "Research Paper Collections" web page
www.tempinformation.apduk.org.uk/research.htm

Thanks dolfrog, I'll have a look at that. I am a teacher and I do know that a great deal of the problem is about money, politics and poor teacher training as, in the past, I've tried (unsuccessfully) to fight the corner for kids in my class who were not having their needs met.

Since becoming involved with this, I've listened in on conversations at work about kids with SEN and seen it in a whole new light. There's a general assumption that the staff know more than the parents and are somehow qualified to comment on whether or not a certain child has a certain conditions. These comments are based entirely on stereotypes of thee condition, as we receive no real training in SEN. The number of colleagues who have commented that it is amazing ds has been diagnosed so late and that no teachers have picked it up has been quite astounding. Then when I ask them what symptoms of dyslexia they would look for in a child with good reading comprehension, average spelling and no reversal of letters they just look blank!! I've had an occasional course (well, one in twenty two years!) which has just told me about the stereotypical symptoms of certain conditions but that just reinforces the stereotype and means nothing else is recognised.

The only vaguely good thing to come from it all is that I've been able to share what I've found out about APD, visual stress and slow cognitive speeds with the newly appointed and very keen SENCo where I work. It would be good to think it might help some children. But as it all boils down to money, I'm not sure it will.

Check your house insurance. I pay about £1.50 a month for legal advice and I have used it a couple of times, mostly just asking for advice but in one case they acted on my behalf and I got a few £K out of the other party.

As it is now an academy it is the school and not the LA that are discriminating which makes things simpler.

Thanks sashh, I would never have thought of looking at my home insurance. I do have some sort of legal cover but I'm not sure of the details. I'll have to look into it.
LEA have looked into situation since I mentioned discrimination and advised school to apply for access arrangements. Not sure whether school will follow LEA advice as they are having to go back on everything they said previously. Would be good to get legal advice. I have a feeling that school will pretend to follow LEA recommendation then, once they become an academy, think up reasons why it isn't applicable anymore!

I have a lot of sympathy for your situation..l am also a teacher and have learned so much from my own childrens needs..my ds was diagnosed with dyspraxia..school wouldnt accept it as good at sport..coordinated but has a desperate problem with forgetting and losing stuff...they made his life hell and mine complaining to me...l was so upset they made no allowance and penalised him on every occasion...l am in ireland and he is now due to go to university.. Wehave system here that allows students with disabilities have special concessions re entry and ongoing..l suggested to school he might qualify..they totally wrote me off...l ddecided to press ahead myself.. He has qualified!!..l am so angry with them..want to sue them ..if l wasnt a teacher l wouldnt have known what to do..l dont want the same to happen to another child..l am talking years of torture and no help..l can understand your frustration..keep fighting

'I've listened in on conversations at work about kids with SEN and seen it in a whole new light. There's a general assumption that the staff know more than the parents and are somehow qualified to comment on whether or not a certain child has a certain conditions. These comments are based entirely on stereotypes of thee condition, as we receive no real training in SEN.'

Absolutely agree with this (am also a teacher).

Hi Shelsco,

Dyslexia is a man made problem it is not a condition but a symptom.

Dyslexia is about having problems decoding and recoding the visual notation of speech or the graphic symbols society chooses to repreent the sdound out speech.
There are two types of Dyslexia, Alexia (acquired dyslexia) which is the result of brain injury, stroke, atrophy etc; and Developmental Dyslexia which has a genetic origin. There are three cogntive subtypes of developmental dyslexia - auditory, visual and attentional, which means that an auditory processing disorder, a visual processiong disorder, an attention disorder or any combination of these issues can cause the dyslexic symptom.

The 2013 international dyslexia symposium discussed these issues and there is a link included on my "Useful dyslexia links" web page
dolfrogslinks.homestead.com/Dyslexia.html
and there is more research paper collections listed on my Pubmed Dyslexia and related issues web page
www.dolfrog.org/PM-Dyslexia.html

I hope this helps

shelsco, Discrimination is rife. The Equality Act 2010 sets rights for persons who are diagnosed as dyslexics and have other disabilities and also responsibilities of educational establishments. This makes just a beautiful reading only but nothing else because these rights are not automatically enforced. There is no authority to oversee they are applied but there are tribunals in certain case only. I took advice from charities because I have the same problems and the only way to enforce the EA is via courts. Getting legal aid is restricted so many discriminated persons just do nothing I read and educational establishments get away.
sashh thanks for the information I will try the home insurance.

I have threatened legal action against the school and now they have a new head they do seem to be making an effort. They have now collected the evidence and sent it to the specialist assessor to check if it is a strong enough case for JCQ. Seems a bit daft as half of the evidence was initially noted by assessor as significant and she recommended that extra time was applied for on this basis. We have loads more now so why they feel the need to have it checked I don't know. does make me feel a bit unsettled after all that's happened in the past. I'm just hoping that what they say is true. I know that legal action is expensive but we had lots of written evidence that school had lied and blatantly failed to follow regulations even when asked to. They were also acting against advice of LEA so it is a big risk for them, especially if the local paper got hold of it. I'm still not sure that we won't have to take it further though.