News

Oliver McGowan’s Campaign Gains Support The Oliver McGowan Campaign was founded by Paula McGowan following the death of her son Oliver. Oliver McGowan died after being given anti-psychotic medication despite medical staff being told repeatedly by both Oliver and his parents that he had reacted badly to it in the past. The drug caused his […]

Learning disability and autistic patients are being failed by a system that does not provide proper care and support. Without proper care and support these young people will not be able to cope, the system’s answer to this is to lock them up, in some cases miles from their families and community. Millons of pounds […]

Do not get stung, Belinda Schwehr examines a recent case in which the ombudsman criticised a council for arbitrarily capping a woman’s live-in care payments. A recent case involving a woman, Mrs Y, who had an arbitrary limit placed on her live-in care, provides a wonderful example of what the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman can […]

Children with learning disabilities endure ‘terrible suffering’ in mental health hospitals, report finds. Mother tells how her son’s arm was “snapped” by hospital staff when he was restrained. Children with learning disabilities and autism are enduring “terrible suffering” in mental health hospitals, where their human rights being widely breached, a damning new report has found, […]

The NHS must change the way it assesses eating disorders to take account of a link with autism, a research charity has said.

Gloucestershire County Council was forced to pay £2,000 to a child with special educational needs after failing to provide education for him.

UK charity Aerobility has joined forces with British Airways and Heathrow Airport Ltd to set a new record for the Heaviest aircraft pulled over 100m by a wheelchair team.

Only 30.6% achieve a GCSE strong pass – Grade 5 or above – in both English and maths, compared with 48.3% of children with no special educational needs.

Ten dedicated teaching units for deaf children in schools are being closed every year, according to a new report

A coalition of epilepsy and neurology organisations warn of the dangers in the event of a national medical shortage

Schools are in a stronger position to push back against councils that order them to take a pupil whose special educational needs they are unable to meet following a landmark judicial review.

Children taught at home should be recorded on a compulsory register, England’s children’s commissioner has said.

English councils have overspent by at least £324m on their budgets for young adults and children with special needs this financial year, the BBC has found.

Artistic director Greg Doran hopes to ‘reflect the nation’ in boost to stage diversity

A mother is calling for greater awareness of a little-known condition she believes changed her easy-going son overnight.

Self-regulation of social media “has failed disabled people”, according to MPs who have backed a petition calling for new laws, led by model Katie Price.

When a ‘chip and signature’ payment card is refused, the impact on a shopper’s dignity is huge

Changes to the disability benefits system that has caused huge hardship to some of the country’s most vulnerable people has cost the government more than £4bn more in extra welfare payments than ministers estimated.

Thousands of children in England with special educational needs are waiting too long for an education, health and care plan (EHC), the BBC has learned.

£45million to boost the number of trainees on the Frontline programme

Treatment of British-born children with complex disabilities breaches UK and UN law say experts

An accident in a swimming pool left Chieko Asakawa blind at the age of 14. For the past three decades she’s worked to create technology – now with a big focus on artificial intelligence (AI) – to transform life for the visually impaired.

Parents who say they have been accused of fabricating their disabled children’s illnesses are being asked to “discuss concerns directly”.

Companies have colonised social work, with those at the top taking the profits while families in difficulty continue to suffer