What's Changed?

Simone Aspis: A Broader Balance


Simone was born in 1969 in Dollis Hill, London. She went to a residential special school in Cheshire from the age of four until sixteen. From there she went on to college and then university.

Here Simone talks about changes she has seen and some things that have not changed.

  • Simone Aspis
  • Simone Aspis
  • Simone Aspis
https://howwasschool.allfie.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/broader-balance.mp3

Transcript

I think what’s changed, for some disabled people there’s been much more young people being included in mainstream classrooms and having access to a broader balance curriculum for, you know. So I think there’s more – up to about now disabled young people I think have been much more – there was much more opportunities for them to be engaged, you know, within a wider curriculum. I think there is more awareness in terms of how to support disabled young people to be included within mainstream settings. I also think that there is more, you know, that there is more – that more schools are willing to include disabled young people. However, I foresee – I see that there isn’t a lot has changed in terms of the subtleties, in terms of that you still have an assessment system that is very much about what you can’t do as opposed to what you can do. You still have an exam system that grades people against some standards set by non disabled people, so you still have, you know, you still have level SATs and you still have GCSEs and A levels which are all based on the same system that I had where, you know, where your brains were graded against standards set by non disabled people.

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