Yesterday in Parliament, Lucy Allan MP attended an event hosted by the charity Guide Dogs, ‘All Things Equal’. Lucy met children, young people and their families to talk about the challenges they face in the education system.
Recent research conducted for Guide Dogs found that 69% of teachers lack confidence that they have the right skills to support disabled children, including those with a vision impairment, to reach their full potential.
This is reflected in outcomes for children with sight loss, who are significantly behind their peers in terms of academic achievements.
Guide Dogs’ “All Things Equal” campaign has called for greater recognition of vision impairment throughout the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) system.
The critical role of specialist professionals needs to be prioritised, and more support should be given at an earlier stage to help prevent young people with sight loss from falling behind.
Lucy Allan MP said:
It was such a pleasure to attend the Guide Dogs ‘All Things Equal’ event and meet some of the young children and families that benefit most from their crucial work. The work that Guide Dogs are doing with young visually impaired children in particular is so important, to ensure that all children feel that they have the confidence to excel in school both academically and as individuals is vital.
I met a young girl called Erin and her buddy dog Quince, who has provided such important support for Erin since they were paired up. Talking to Erin, she was such a confident young girl and speaking to her parents, a lot of that confidence came from having Quince in her life.
The ‘All Things Equal’ campaign is a fantastic step in the right direction, to ensure that all visually impaired children have access to all the support that they need not only in education but through life as well.
