• THERE has unfortunately been no mention in your paper this year of UK Disability History Month (UKDHM, from November 16 to December 16) and yet there are over 14 million disabled people. Other months are rightly covered fully.

The theme this year is disability, children and youth. My partner Richard Rieser invented UKDHM 14 years ago and is the convenor. It has spread all over the country with activities in schools, colleges, theatres, unions, prisons, the NHS.

We had an excellent launch on 16th. It included young people, the general secretary of the National Education Union Daniel Kebede, and Linda Jordan as a parent of a disabled daughter, speaking about changing the education system in Newham in the 1980s, nearly all the special schools were closed and the money went into mainstream so all children could thrive together.

This has unfortunately gone backwards as successive governments have made the curriculum rigid, with testing and exam factory rules.

We had excerpts from Exploration 2023 which was for young disabled people (up to 25 years) to express the good, the bad and the changes they thought were needed.

We included Luke, 11, with a poem about autism, Ickburgh Special school E9, with drawings, a dance from people with learning difficulties, a podcast from Cornwall, Luna project, Glasgow.

Jonathan Bryan, non verbal, 17, founded “Eye Can Read”. He was in a special school where it was presumed he couldn’t read, discovered eye-pointing and is now doing A-levels in mainstream sixth form.

UKDHM covers the history and prejudice towards disabled children and young people. Solutions to the ongoing issues are discussed. Many activities are presented in ways children can relate to.

The website ukdhm.org has many resources examining the history of disabled children, including education from segregation, with filmed examples of inclusion working and responding to disabilist bullying.

SUSIE BURROWS, N1