Latest News for Parents & Carers

For the first time in England and Wales, deaf people have been able to fulfill their civic duty and serve on a jury, supported by British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters. This summer, Karen – a volunteer at charity DeafCOG in London – became the first deaf person to complete jury service with a BSL interpreter at Croydon Crown Court, deliberating over a racially aggravated harassment case.

Of the thousands of disability hate crimes reported to the police last year, just 1% resulted in criminal charges, two charities have revealed. Leonard Cheshire and United Response submitted Freedom of Information requests to 43 police forces in England and Wales and 36 responded. It found that out of more than 11,000 reports, 99% of cases went no further. The National Police Chiefs’ Council said it wanted “to understand the reasons” behind the low number.

Rebecca Jeffery argues that autistic and neurodiverse teachers are vital for a more inclusive and effective education system. There are more than 160,000 autistic pupils in schools across England1, but I’m not aware of any statistics on the number of autistic teachers. Is such a statistic even relevant to the effectiveness of education for autistic pupils? Yes!

People with a learning disability are more than twice as likely to die from avoidable causes than the rest of the population. Actor Tommy Jessop and BBC Panorama investigated some of the stories of families who say they were let down by their medical care.

Campaigners have accused the government of “unforgivable” failings after previously unreleased figures suggested that the majority of successful disability benefit appeals were because of errors by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). According to previously unpublished data held by the DWP, 59% of successful tribunal appeals by applicants for the personal independence payment (Pip) benefit since the start of 2021 were because the tribunal “reached a different conclusion on substantially the same facts”.