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

• 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
• ISSN: 1356-7500; 1365-2206
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2008.00577.x

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.