Education is the foundation for any child’s learning but for a child with a disability their education may stray from the course of their peers. But how much specialised education that may blur into preferential treatment is OK and where should the lines be drawn?

Everyone’s experience is individual and no one is saying that any situation is the norm but there is no specific rules in some places and then in others too many. Where the balance lies and should lie differs tremendously.

Some individuals are babied in some systems and others are given the extra support with no such differences to their classmates. There are those again who lie in the middle of this spectrum and sadly the camps are divided purely on attitudes.

The attitudes of society and the attitudes of individuals parents are huge influences to how the school and the people assisting the children cater to the child’s needs.

Each case must be assessed on individual assessment but certain factors must be adhered too. In the UK, we have a national curriculum that every child within the Uk system has to adhere to and certain classes are mandatory, no matter how much your disability, certain classes and all exams must be undertaken. There are no excuses in regards to disability for exemption, extra time and assistance for all disabled students are granted but exemption from exams or mandatory classes and attendance are compulsory.

However, some school teams and education authorities find that giving disabled students certain privileges in fear of repercussions from organisations or indeed parents is vital. The communication between parents and the schools is usually intensive within the mainstream system as the child’s progress and the support is continuously monitored.

During a child’s early days, extra classes such as braille, typing or mobility have to be addressed and this does indeed cut into the child’s curriculum. As necessary as these extra, usually one on one sessions are, they cannot interfere with a child’s regular classwork. In high school, where diagrams and more complicated topics should arise, such as the braille maths code, again one on one with a learning support assistant is crucial but still cannot interfere with a child’s curriculum.

Being in mainstream can often prove to be vital for a child’s social development and their general attitude toward the outside world. Often, institutions can create a “bubble effect” and cause unrealistic attitudes to form. But again, if a child is given preferential treatment whilst in mainstream education, whereas they are not encouraged to socialise, integrate with their peers and take part in challenging experiences, their social attitudes may be stunted as a result.

No system is perfect but allowing children with a disability to have a very different experience to their able bodied friends continues to feed the attitude that disabled people are less capable and not their equal. Allowing a child to miss an exam because of their visual impairment or allow them to leave school at a less equal rate to their abled bodied peers continues to feed this horrific view of disabled people of being not as capable as everyone else.

As I understand it, in the US, some school districts allow students to miss mandatory exams because of their disability or not ad heed to the same rules as their able bodied peers because of a visual impairment, how is this fair to their peers, the hard working school systems and in the long run those students? They are not being taught how hard the real world is by giving them certain privileges. When they’re in the work place, how will it be fair if they go home because they feel like it while their able bodied colleagues pick up the slack. We all know this shouldn’t and doesn’t often happen in the work place so why the hell is it happening in some educational districts?

We should be teaching all of our children that they are equal, not just to get the positives but when going through the negatives of their school life. If they don’t do their homework, they should be reprimanded as everyone else is. If they are misbehaving then they should be punished the difference is to benefit the child and give them the same opportunities as their classmates, special treatment should never occur. It is mainstream for a reason and it will, if done properly produce well rounded, socially capable, functional individuals, regardless of ability.