Protest-video_Cornwall Council SEND Parents Jan25

Autism advocate Marie Hutchinson-Ralph explains why parents are protesting at Cornwall Council ahead of the January full council meeting.

Transcript

00:00So, Marie, we're outside Liz Kernow County Hall in Cornwall, Cornwall Council's headquarters,

00:07and there's a protest of send parents outside here today. Can you explain why all these

00:12parents are here, please?

00:14I think because basically they've had enough. The majority of parents here have got children

00:18who have not had a formal education for some years, not even just months, some of them

00:22who have not had a formal education for years. Some of them have children who have been traumatised

00:28by being forced into academies that do not have policies that accommodate, particularly

00:32for autistic students. The local authority has a duty of care under section 19 of the

00:38Education Act to provide an education for these children after 15 days, and they're

00:43not doing it. Children are ending up as young as 7 and 8 in children and adolescent mental

00:49health services with school-related trauma, and that should not even be a diagnosis, you

00:55should not be traumatised. And I think parents have frankly had enough of systemic abuse

00:59in schools of disabled children, and being allowed to do so by the local authority.