A great post from my friend Sophie on the view of disability and education in schools. Well worth a read and well written. Sometimes the professionals are wrong. In fact… that seems to be the case a lot of the time.
I was put in foundation classes at school, despite my coursework being graded in the As because they did not think I could get the same in exams. For my foreign readers. Foundation in the UK means that you are capped at a C grade. You have to get 70% in the exam to get a C grade, and even if your coursework is an A, you cannot get above a C. Roughly 80% of the paper is the same as the Higher Tier, the only difference was the wording of the exam questions. They were worded clearer for the foundation group to understand. Why not just write them clear to begin with and let everyone try their best?
To get a C on a higher paper, the student only needs to hit the 50% mark, so someone on foundation will find it harder than someone on higher to get a C purely because their reading comprehension is lower than it should be. I have since learned that my reading comprehension is low because I have dyslexia, but I didn’t know that while I was at school.
Preconceptions about disability
My school clearly thought that my disability affected my intelligence. When I transitioned from primary to secondary school, I was put in the bottom group for all subjects. My sats for Maths was high but I was still placed in bottom set (initially). After a few weeks in Maths foundation in Year 7, I was moved to the top set. They didn’t believe my sats until they saw my ability.
My school also didn’t give me a chance in the other GCSE Core I took, English. So I was capped at a C there. My English teacher rooted for me and asked for me to be put in the higher paper, but the school believed that I could not get a high enough grade if I took the paper. Maybe this system is why students are bad at exams. There is just no belief that they’ll be able to do it.
I was at a disadvantage compared to my peers and I didn’t know it. The kid diagnosed with dyslexia was allowed a laptop in class to write his notes, but Cerebral Palsy and having pain while holding a physical pen was not seen as a good enough reason to have a laptop in class. My school also knew I struggled with my grammar, spelling and reading… common symptoms of dyslexia. I had other symptoms too, but they just assumed it was my Cerebral Palsy. My dyslexia could have been diagnosed earlier if they removed their preconceptions.
Exclusion
I was also excluded from the other children. When I started year 7, I was the only kid that had a physical disability. I became the target on the playground. The school decided the best cause of action was not what you’d expect—to teach kids bullying was wrong—no, their solution was to keep me locked indoors while everyone else socialised outside. Now, at the time I was happy, I got to play video games during lunch… only it meant making friends for the next five years impossible. I mean… you can’t talk in class and if I’m indoors and everyone’s outdoors, then the only people I can befriend are teachers.
Again, at the time, I saw nothing wrong with this. I had always struggled making friends with people my own age. Now as an adult I realise I missed out on key social developments that would have been beneficial. I have had to play catch-up in the social development department as an adult and it sucks!
Sophie’s post
Thoughts on Sophie’s blog post
Soph has also been a victim of preconception by schools and professionals. They wanted her to go to a “Specialist School”. The quality of education in Specialist Schools when Sophie and I were younger did not have the best reputation. I do not know what they are like now, except that my nephew enjoys it and that is what matters.
But it is interesting that me and Sophie both had similar experiences in secondary school education, probably in primary school education too with both our schools assuming that our disability is going to restrict us. Personally, I think by putting us in the lower groups and setting us up in foundation, they admitted that they didn’t want to teach us. They basically put us in the easiest classes rather than refuse our admittance to the school because they legally could not refuse us. Unfortunately I think that our stories are not unique. Bare in mid we went to secondary school in 2007-2012, our GCSE years were in 2010-2012. Really, the schools should have known better.
I hope they have improved now, but the direction this country is going, I am not hopeful that they have. If anything, they probably have got worse. The government started attacking disabled people in 2013, we have Brexit to contend with… just a lot of bad stuff that doesn’t keep me hopeful.
Anyway, the PHAB Camps Sophie mentions is the same PHAB camp that I went to – Check it out here. It is also how Sophie and I met. I took her spot one year and then we met making a masterpiece (the one in the feature image) with them a few months later. But it wasn’t until she saw me walking around the college campus that we have become friends for life!
Quick update on me
Quick update on studies. My coursework will be done soon and my usual posting habits will be put into place. Don’t forget to subscribe on Facebook or Bluesky and check out my other posts on Little Sea Bear! Also feel free to subscribe to my newsletter.
~Shannon~