Big Brum Project Learning Resources
The needs and wants of learners with physical disabilities
In 2018, PDnet, the national network, commissioned a project for Big Brum to put on consultative ‘Needs and Wants of Learners with Phsyical Disabilities’ sessions for disabled children and young people at the Lancasterian School in Manchester and Treloars School in Hampshire.
The sessions involved students with a wide range of physical disabilities. The consultations used a Theatre in Education programme based on ‘Flee’ by Suriya Aisha to elicit the reflections on needs and wants from 40 young people aged six to 18 from 12 different schools. Their ideas were then supplemented with notes and observations from a further session in June 2018, involving 20 young people at Victoria School in Birmingham.
The outcome is a project report which shares what the disabled individuals told Big Brum and what in turn this might mean for the adults who interact with them. Findings include the need to provide personalised learning and support as per people’s unique needs, adjusting expectations and the curriculum to level the playing field for today’s youth, and to read between the lines about what people say versus what they actually mean.
