Pathways To Inclusion

Urban Myth by David Antonides I miss the undulating flow of a varied existence, the rhythmic passing between spaces, the rituals that celebrate the demarcation of time and place. The experiences, for the most part, remain largely similar. But they are no longer physically or temporally distinct from each other. And I'm finding this problematic. So yes, I miss going to the pub, and going to soft play with my children. I even miss going to work. But it’s not the places themselves that I miss, rather it’s the ability to pass from one space to another. And, crucially, the ability to leave them. To return to a place that is not them. Or, to put it another way, since pretty much all of our shopping has moved online, I don’t miss the feeling of being in a shop so much as I miss the feeling of not being in a shop. Just like, since all our social drinking now takes place on our sofa, I miss the time when our lounge wasn’t also a pub. And now that I am fielding my work on devices that are a...

"Exclusion and seclusion can echo relational trauma and systemic trauma; physical restraint can echo physical and sexual abuse. Retraumatisation... may drive even more challenging behaviour." (Centre for Mental Health: Briefing 54) Trapped by Ashley Huisman A number of cases recently have seen mothers taking, or threatening to take their child's school to court for the seemingly barbaric systems of internal exclusion that are in use. Mothers of children with ADHD, with ASD, with mental health difficulties, with family trauma. The mother of a son who spent a third of his school year in ‘isolation’. The mother of a daughter who attempted suicide while she was in an isolation booth. I'm glad that it’s been widely reported on the BBC and even made the front page of the Guardian a couple of weeks ago; we downplay cases like this at our peril. There is now an active ‘ ban the booths ’ campaign group, and the first ‘ lose the booths ’ conference took place in L...