Have you signed our open letter about SEND rights?
Last week we published an open letter to the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, and Secretary of State for Education, Lucy Powell. It’s calling for the Government to rethink the part of the School’s White Paper SEND proposals that reduce or remove 20 key SEND rights. You can read about that here. As well as well-known figures and SEND campaigners, we are asking anyone with lived experience or an interest in SEND rights to sign the open letter.
Below is a full list of signatories. You can also add your name to the letter by filling in the form at the end of this page
There is a map at the bottom, showing the parliamentary constituencies individual signatories are from (anonymously). And don’t forget you have until 14th to sign the petition to Save SEND Legal Rights
WHO HAS ALREADY SIGNED our OPEN LETTER?
We’ve grouped them into four sections: High profile signatories, SOCR partners, Organisational signatories, and individual signatories.
HIGH PROFILE SIGNATORIES
- Chris Packham, Broadcaster and Campaigner
- Carrie Grant, Broadcaster and SEND parent
- Sally Phillips, Actor, Campaigner, SEND parent
- Kellie Bright, Actor and Campaigner
- Ruth Madeley, Actor and Campaigner
- Robin Ince, Comedian, Author, Broadcaster
- Dr Virginia Bovell OBE, Founder of Treehouse/Ambitious About Autism, Author, campaigner, SEND parent
- Ian Birrell, Journalist and Disability Campaigner
- Stephen Unwin, Playwright and SEND parent
- David Mitchell, Author and SEND parent
- Rosa Monckton, Peer, and Disability and SEND campaigner
- Saba Salman, Disability Journalist and Campaigner
- Paula McGowan OBE, Campaigner
- Tee-Jay Chetwynd, Young campaigner who started the Save SEND Legal Rights petition
SOCR Partners
- Tania Tirraoro, Founder and co-director, Special Needs Jungle (Co-founder, SOCR)
- Madeleine Cassidy, CEO, IPSEA (Independent Provider of Special Education Advice) (Co-founder, SOCR)
- Marsha Martin, Founder, Black SEN Mamas (SOCR)
- Habiba Alli, South Asian SEN Mamas (SOCR)
- Rachel Filmer, Founder, SEND Rights Alliance (Co-founder, SOCR)
- John Harris, Journalist, Writer and SEND parent (Co-founder, SOCR)
- Sharon Pratt, Founding member, SEND National Crisis (SOCR)
- Alison Bloomer, Editor, Learning Disability Today (Co-founder, SOCR)
- Suzy Yardley, CEO, Child Autism UK (SOCR)
- Richard Orchard-Rowe, CEO, SOS!SEN (SOCR)
“The damage that has been done to my children in a system where the law has never been followed or enforced has been heartbreaking and scandalous. The move to remove the rights instead of take action to make the system fit for purpose and compliant is appalling.”
Parent signatory
ORGANISATIONAL SIGNATORIES
- Daniel Kebede, General Secretary, National Education Union
- Kamran Mallick, CEO, Disability Rights UK
- Claire Dorer, CEO, National Association of Special Schools
- Cathy Wassell, CEO, Autistic Girls Network
- Carol Boys, CEO, Downs Syndrome Association
- Samantha Clark, CEO, Learning Disability England
- Andy Stevenson, CEO, Reverse Rett
- Measure What Matters (public accountability group)
- Joanna Giibs, SENsational Tutors
- Linda Lascelles, Afasic
- Marion Stanton, Communication and Learning Enterprises Limited
- Michelle, Educational Freedom
- Gillian Crea, Extraordinary Links CIO
- Kirsti Hadley, Generation Alphabet
- Lucy Ellis, Include Us Too
- Becky Gillespie, International Coalition Against Restraint and Seclusion
- Dr Chris Papadopoulos, London Autism Group Charity
- Michelle Zaher, McAuley Red
- Carrie Wood, SNAAP (Special Needs Advisory & Activities Project)
- Rhian Wootten, The Dorset Children’s Foundation
- Sarah Wynn, Unique – the Rare Chromosome and Gene Disorder Support Group
- Association of Speech and Language Therapists in Independent Practice (ASLTIP)
- George Crockford, Chief Executive, The National Deaf Children’s Society
- Ellie Costello, Square Peg
- Emma Smith, Down Syndrome Oxfordshire
“Having lived through the current SEND system and relied upon Legal Rights to secure ANY provision following repeated maladministration and unlawful conduct from our Local Authority, I can not begin to understand why the government reforms see removal of legal rights as the answer. I believe the reforms in their current form will cause significant harm.”
Parent signatory
ACADEMICS
- Sir Simon Baron-Cohen, Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
- Sara Ryan, Professor of Social Care, Manchester Metropolitan University
- Luke Clements, Cerebra Professor of Law and Social Justice, Leeds University
- Dr Seamus Byrne, Manchester Metropolitan University
“The government needs to stop and listen to us. What they are proposing is going to destroy a whole generation of children, young people and whole families from the neurodivergent community. We have so much to offer but without the RIGHT support, and protected legal rights so that parents can ensure the RIGHT support, we will end up with a completely lost and traumatised generation who need to rely on social care, benefits, mental health services and possibly even driven into the criminal Justice system. Most of our doctors, inventors, engineers, academics are neurodivergent. Society needs neurodivergent minds.
“Look at the MI5 research. The government needs to hear what we need to thrive and not remove the legal rights our children need to ensure an appropriate education and a future where they can contribute to society.”
Parent signatory
Social media personalities
- Gareth Hitchin, Autism Dadcast
- Eliza Fricker, Missing the Mark
- Jo Clayton, Unauthorised Absence Film
- Luisa Gray, Long Road SEND Mum
- Natalie Elliott, Fight School Fines
- Michaela Silsby, Spilling the Tea on Autism and ADHD
Only 6 months ago, my 11 year old daughter said she wanted to die because she couldn’t attend school. She was left without education for 3 years. The LA breached its statutory duties a number of times. We appealed and took them to tribunal – they conceded before the hearing because they had quite simply delayed and delayed to avoid providing support. In September, my daughter started at her specialist setting. In the space of 1 month she has attended every day, engaged in lessons, says she no longer feels lonely, and says I can’t believe this is my school. Without the legal recourse, she would have been left to rot in her bedroom by the Authority. I dread to think where she would be if the reforms were already in place, and what this would mean for her future.
Parent signatory
PARENT CARER GROUPS
- Debbie Bourne, Eastleigh SOS Group
- Colleen Brannon, Jude Geddes, Isle of Wight SEN Support
- Tracy Winchester, SEND National Crisis Worcestershire
- Mandy Smith, SEND National Crisis Liverpool
- Clare Burton, Supporting SEN parents Kent
INDIVIDUALS
We have chosen not to print the names of private individuals who have signed our open letter, but to add the counts per parliamentary constituency for those who included it on their form. Those who didn’t include a constituency are listed as “unassigned”.
This map will be updated every few days. Below shows the spread of signatories on 12th October.
Sign the Open Letter
FOLLOW US ONLINE
If you’re a Facebook user, as well as following us on our social media, you can join in discussions and tell us what you’re doing and your thoughts too. Click the FIRST Facebook icon. The second takes you to our Facebook page.
