'Mingling together': promoting the social inclusion of disabled children and young people during the school holidays

ABSTRACT The promotion of social inclusion of disabled children and their families is currently high on the UK political agenda. Research shows that disabled children and their families are highly disadvantaged, both economically and socially. This paper reports some of the findings of a qualitative...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child & family social work 2009-02, Vol.14 (1), p.15-24
Main Authors: Knight, Abigail, Petrie, Pat, Zuurmond, Maria, Potts, Patricia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Access
Children with disabilities
Children's rights
Disability
disabled children
Educational Policy
Families & family life
Family (Sociological Unit)
Handicapped
Holidays
out-of-school services
Qualitative research
school holidays
Schooling
Schools
Social exclusion
social inclusion
Social integration
Social Isolation
Social policy
United Kingdom
Vacations
Young Adults
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Summary:ABSTRACT The promotion of social inclusion of disabled children and their families is currently high on the UK political agenda. Research shows that disabled children and their families are highly disadvantaged, both economically and socially. This paper reports some of the findings of a qualitative study, entitled On Holiday!, which involved analysing the views of 297 people across six local authority research sites in England including 86 disabled children and young people. The study showed that many disabled children and their families experienced high levels of social isolation and exclusion during out‐of‐school periods and during the school holidays in particular. The paper recounts some of the experiences of disabled young people and their families and ways in which local authorities can promote their social inclusion. We argue that disabled young people and their families can only be truly socially included and empowered when all levels of the local authority (managers, officers and elected members) recognize the rights and entitlements of disabled children and have the political will and commitment to implement them.
ISSN:1356-7500
1365-2206
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2206.2008.00577.x