Experiences of SEND: The COVID Generation

The state of public secondary education is about as un-inclusive as you can get. I wouldn’t say this fact is particularly disputed, however I’m saying this from my first-hand experience.

As someone who grew up with multiple invisible and visible disabilities, the period of time I spent in secondary school is what I can only describe as ‘god awful.’ Not only was I being constantly harangued by students, having my crutches kicked from underneath me and rumours spread about the validity of my condition, but I would argue the teachers were worse.

To be clear, the experience I had with my teachers was epitomised by the occasion upon which my P.E teacher gaslit me into believing it was in fact my fault that she was forcing me to participate. Bear in mind, I was 11. Anyone who knows any disability will know that at the beginning, and especially as a child, symptoms can be unpredictable. This resulted in my attendance falling to under 50% within 6 months, and consequentially a maths teacher who whole heartedly believed my difficulty with the subject had absolutely nothing to do with my plethora of conditions. Cause and effect becoming blurred.

When lockdown began in 2020, I was pulled out of mainstream education and into an online school. This was possibly the best decision that could’ve been made. It removed the walking that triggered my chronic pain, and provided flexibility for me to manage my conditions. It, shockingly, turns out my disabilities were in fact affecting my education and for the first time in a long time, English wasn’t a class that sucked and I could do maths. Come my GCSES, I’d had the opportunity and time to not only learn effectively but also revise. Even the exams themselves were significantly easier as I wasn’t forced into a stuffy uniform for an exam bricks and mortar teachers hyped up as the most important one of your life -fun fact it’s not, you can always retry.

Not only did home education give me the schedule to learn, but it also did so in a way that gave me a chance to recover and heal. Nowadays I’m an A-level student now studying English, a subject I’m sure I never would’ve tolerated, let alone enjoy, if I’d remained in bricks and mortar. Home education is something I would 100%, without a doubt, recommend.