Have your say to change legal rights in SEN Bill: Join Jane Raca's campaign

"We define ourselves as a society by the priorities we choose."

Copyright Jane Raca

Last year I had the very great priviledge of meeting Jane Raca at a Mencap reception at No.10. Mum, legal eagle and author of Standing Up for James she is a force to be reckoned with in the world of disability and SEN.

Jane is now calling on parents and carers of children and young people with SEN/Disabilities to join her campaign to make the government stop the rush through parliament of the Children and Families Bill in its present form because its provisions are woefully inadequate.

Guest post by Rich Harris

Rich Harries

• Hey, below is a copy Copy of the letter I sent to David Cameron, ref Colin Brewer’s idiocy. I'll let you know if he or his office reply. Feel free to share, is do it myself but I'm not particularly bloggy. And well done for what you do.
  
  
  
  Mr Cameron
  
  I truly hope that this mail finds its way through your staff for your attention; I believe this will be of both a personal and political interest to you.
  
  You may be aware of it, but if not, the issue I wish to inform you of is the disgusting comment by the Cornwall councillor Colin Brewer. In February he was forced to resign from his post after remarking that disabled children “should be put down at birth” some 18 months previous, as they "cost the council too much money". He eventually apologised, suggesting that the comments were meant to 'provoke discussion".
  
  Yet last month, he saw fit to re-iterate and justify those comments, with the additional view that “when they [farmers] have a misshapen lamb, they smash its head against the wall; BANG”, and saw no distinction between the two. He explained that his view was because of public funds being taken away from such vital and widely used local amenities as public toilets and coastal paths, and being diverted to the lifelong care of the disabled.
  
  I’d like to think I’d be moved to write to you had his comments not had a personal resonance with me, but they do. My son has moderate-to-severe learning difficulties as a result of Microcephaly, West’s Syndrome and associated brain damage. He’ll never achieve financial independence, and so in Mr Brewer’s view will be a distracting drain for funds that could be better used elsewhere for the rest of his life. Indeed, I’m sure Alfie’s care is expensive, and for that I’m extremely grateful. However, whilst Alfie will never be able to directly contribute to the public purse, his bravery is certainly a motivation for his family, giving us strengbbth to strive, get better jobs, earn more money, and pay more taxes. Sure, we’re still in debt to society, but the way Alfie’s cheery demeanour, love for life, and infectious smile enhance so many people’s lives, I’m sure that in many ways society is in fact in debt to him. His teacher at school referred to him as ‘instant sunshine’ – that means more to me than if he’d graduated with honours.
  
  I’m not sure whether it’s appropriate for you to get involved, but my absolute belief is that public office has no place for a man such extreme discriminatory views. I imagine if he had said that black children should be put down at birth he’d be out of office by now, and this level of discriminatory bigotry is equally deplorable.
  
  For the aforementioned personal reasons, and as a contingency for this communication not reaching you, I intend have forwarded this letter to a number of your listed email addresses, and the No10 Twitter account. Should it not reach you, I’d like the comments to receive as much publicity as is possible so that the public can see what this man has said, so have also copied in The Disability News Service. Ultimately I hope that your influence and input should be sufficient to remove Mr Brewer from a position for which he is blatantly unsuitable.
  
  You’re obviously a busy man, but I’m aware of the challenges that your family have faced, and am sure your disgust will be as high as mine, and of the thousands of people that have read what was said. Thank you for reading; your response and/or subsequent action is awaited with interest by many.
  
  Kind regards,
  
  
  Here is the reply that came back from Downing Street
  
  

  

  
  

Collin Brewer: Re-elected but not welcome.

Dear Collin Brewer

Around 2 months ago a huge mistake you made came to light.

In your role as local councillor you made a hot-headed comment that 'children with disabilities should be put down'. Apparently you were angry. Apparently you were stressed.

Now anyone in public office; teachers, ministers, police officers, councillors and so on should never entertain such notions, let alone say them aloud. My brain wouldn't know how to begin to form such an insult, whatever the circumstances in which it was used.

The world got wind of this leak of your outdated and bigoted thinking and was outraged. Not just the disability community, but any person with an ounce of decency felt emotions ranging from anger to fury to sadness and disappointment.  They rallied on radio shows and internet sites to tell stories of love and positivity about family members with disabilities.

When I say the world, I don't simply mean your world of Wadebridge East. As a local disability writer and campaigner I watched as groups as far away as Australia and America demanded your resignation. Many wanted you formally charged, others wanted to confront you personally.

I personally rolled my eyes in your direction, and thought you a buffoon, a dinosaur and a sad individual who has yet to understand the value of those with disabilities within our lives and communities. I wrote you a carefully considered and balanced letter which I doubt you read, explaining the wonder our daughter Natty, who has Down's Syndrome brings to the entire family and everyone she meets. I pointed out your naiivety at turning a blind eye to public opinion.

I admitted that you were not a Geoffery Clark in my eyes, a man with a manifesto of hatred, but a man wholly unsuited to the office you were clinging stubbornly onto despite a glowing past.

Then you resigned after a hard-hitting interview live on the Laurence Reed show.

The world sighed a sigh of relief.

What you don't realise Collin Brewer is that at that time I and many of those in the media were concerned for your mental wellbeing. We worried how you would cope with your long and fruitful career ending in such a hateful way. We worried about your self-esteem, your mental health and, to be frank, your personal safety. And here is the thing, we actually did much to protect you from the wrath you had created for yourself. We smoothed things over, telling people to forget you if they could not forgive you, to move on and pour their energies into more positive work to improve the lives of those with disabilities.

We held back on interviews and publishing more information about you. We assumed you had slipped quietly away to lick your wounded pride and perhaps redress the hurt you had caused so many by doing some voluntary work or fundraising for Disability Cornwall (to an employee of whom you had made your fateful comment).

But no.

We were all shocked into silence that you decided to stand again for election this May.

The audacity, the arrogance, and again, the ignorance that the world  was watching and waiting.

The results have just been counted and you have won by a whisker, 4 votes if I'm not mistaken. Who these people who voted for you are do not matter. They may have been oblivious to your comments in the first place.

The worlds disability groups will now be joining force.

From one Sister to Another: From the Heart

Each of our girls has a scrapbook that we stick memorabilia into. 

Sometimes they go between home and school. It's a casual affair and often we forget to update them.

I opened Natty's yesterday to stick in a piece of artwork and this is what I found (word for word, spelling for spelling). 

I have a lump in my throat typing this up...

Messig From Mia

To Natty

I love you so much

and you are the best sister

in the world and so preshus to me.

You are so important to me

and if you weren't in this world

my life woudn't be the same

and that would be terrible.

So, I love you very much and you mean evrything to me

Lots and lots of love from Mia xxx

And so you see, all my fears for Mia when Natty entered her world, that she would hinder her, hold her back were unfounded. Yes, she takes up a lot of attention sometimes, but we make sure that Mia has plenty of alone time with each of us. Now I can see that the young woman Mia is turning into is caring, thoughtful and sensitive to others. She is always the first to tell schoolmates that 'we are all different'. Read Mia's blog post Mia's thoughts about her little sister Natty here.