Latest News for Parents & Carers

Troy Kotsur has become the first deaf man and the second deaf actor nominated for an Academy Award. Kotsur has been nominated for best supporting actor for CODA, where he plays Frank Rossi, a deaf man who is navigating challenges to his Massachusetts fishing business as his hearing daughter, Ruby (Emilia Jones), who acts as the family’s interpreter, mulls a move to college.

Will Quince, Minister for Children & Families, who’s in charge of the SEND Review, will be on hand to answer your questions in a SEND Review webinar ahead of the upcoming publication of the Green Paper.
It is jointly hosted by Special Needs Jungle, the National Network of Parent Carer Forums and Contact. The webinar is on Monday 7 March between 2.15pm-3.00pm. Register for your place now.

The Countryside Code is designed to ensure everyone is able to enjoy the natural world in harmony with wildlife, the environment and the people who work within it. This guidance has been updated so that landowners must ensure their land can be easily reached by ‘visitors with different abilities and needs’ effectively, asking them to replace stiles and kissing gates with accessible access points, and to use more accessible signage.

A diverse new group of Mencap ambassadors is aiming to create better representation for the 1.5 million people who live with a learning disability in the UK. Their campaign called The Myth Busters aims to challenge misconceptions and stigma as well as pushing for greater inclusion of people with a learning disability. By including a dancer, an actor, a model, a football coach and skater, the charity hopes to demonstrate just how unique learning disability is and how everyone in the community deserves to be equally seen and heard.

The learning disability charity Mencap is calling for the Department of Education to rethink its current regulations around apprenticeships to allow thousands of people with learning disabilities and difficulties (LDD) to access more apprenticeships. The Accessible Apprenticeships Report, which is published as part of National Apprenticeship Week, suggests that Ministers make a “subtle change” to an existing policy that would allow for greater flexibility to entry requirements.