Social class

New research shows how “social class” deepens the inequalities experienced by disabled young people in England's mainstream schools.

I am Reader in Sociology at the University of Warwick. In contrast, there were no parallel cases of parents of dyslexic young people having to take out legal cases against the school or local authority to secure support. I am also a research associate within primary care and mental health at the University of Liverpool. In other cases, young people experienced the withdrawal of their support due to spending cuts and tightening budgets. Our research finds that some conditions/impairments are more stigmatised than others – for example, it was telling that autistic young people had the hardest time at school regardless of parental social class, with several middle- and upper-class families being unsuccessful in securing in-school support and taking out legal cases against schools and local authorities. I have a longstanding interest in disability rights, social justice, and inclusion. These disparities may be implicated in the inequalities in attainment in adulthood outlined above—and with growing cuts to SEN funding, they may become even wider. In several cases, this was the result of a long-term battle, with parents sharing information about their fights to secure young people’s rights to learning and inclusion. Learning support enables disabled young people to reach their full academic potential while promoting inclusion and wellbeing. As a result, a number of working-class young people in our study did not receive any support whilst at school. But, at the same time, it ultimately improved young people’s school experience by providing a more secure learning environment that mitigated the impact of earlier negative experiences. Interviews with young people revealed pronounced inequalities in school experiences.