Ben Bradley, Member of Parliament for Mansfield, met the charity Guide Dogs at Conservative Party conference recently and pledged to support their All Things Equal campaign.
The campaign seeks to ensure that the 41,000 children and young people with vision impairment in the UK get the specialist support they need.
Currently, that specialist support is not widely available and children and young people with vision impairment are falling behind their sighted classmates as a result.
Research commissioned by Guide Dogs earlier this year found that 69% of mainstream, non-specialist teachers lack confidence that they have the right skills to support disabled children, including those with vision impairment and want the support of specialist professionals.
Guide Dogs’ All Things Equal campaign is calling to ensure that every child with vision impairment that needs it can access habilitation and other specialist support. To help deliver this, Guide Dogs is calling for a workforce strategy to support the training and recruitment of specialist professionals working with children and young people with additional educational support needs.
Commenting on this Ben Bradley MP said:
“Lovely to meet the guys on the Guide Dogs stand at conference this week - and the gorgeous dogs themselves of course - to learn a bit more about their work. I’m keen to support them in any way I can, and particularly enjoyed discussing what more could be done both nationally and at Council level to help provide young people with more suitable employment opportunities.
“Guide dogs campaigns regularly land in my inbox, so I know it’s a popular issue across Mansfield and Warsop. Campaigns include pavement parking and the danger of e-scooters on our streets. I’m looking forward to seeing what more I can do to support the blind and partially sighted members of our region”.
Helen Honstvet, Senior Policy, Public Affairs and Campaigns Manager for Guide Dogs said:
“80% of our learning is through sight, so children and young people with vision impairment need specialised additional support to help them develop their skills. All too often, they are being let down by the education system that fails to give them the support they need. We’re campaigning for every child with vision impairment to get the specialist support they need.”
Notes
- Guide Dogs is here to help the two million people living with sight loss live the life they choose. Children and adults. Friends and family. Our expert staff, volunteers and life-changing dogs are here to help people affected by sight loss live actively, independently and well. Find out more at www.guidedogs.org.uk.
- Guide Dogs is the UK’s largest charitable provider of services for children and young people with vision impairment and helps provide specialist professional support from habilitation specialists working with teachers and special education staff or advising on assistive technologies.
- Research conducted for Guide Dogs took place in April 2022 via Teacher Tapp.
- For more information about Guide Dogs and their All Things Equal campaign, contact [email protected].
