A teenager with severe cerebral palsy who wrote a book using his eyes has urged teachers not to underestimate their pupils.
When Jonathan Bryan started school he was given the label PMLD, which stands for profound and multiple learning disabilities.
It meant he was placed on a sensory curriculum – essentially early years education – but his mother took him out of school and taught him to read and write using an alphabet board.
Mr Bryan told The UK Tonight With Sarah-Jane Mee he has become a “voice of the voiceless” over 10 years of campaigning to prevent people with complex needs and who are non-verbal from being overlooked.
The 19-year-old is now a published author and is studying creative writing at the University of Bath.
Asked if the school system was underestimating children with PMLD, he said the mistake was in thinking “it’s something that’s diagnosed” when it is “just an educational label given to children who look like me – usually in a wheelchair, with little or no means of communication”.
“Our cognition isn’t tested before we get the label, but we are treated like we all have a profound intellectual disability,” he said. “We’re not taught to read or write because it’s assumed we’ll never learn. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. We don’t learn because we aren’t taught.”
He said “people look at us and make assumptions about our capacity to learn”.
“When you don’t speak out loud, people assume your intellect is the same as a pre-verbal toddler. Because we don’t speak, it’s easier to ignore us. It’s why I speak up about this as a voice for the voiceless.”
After a decade of campaigning, Mr Bryan said there is “still a long way to go”.
“Until the government expects this cohort to be taught literacy, it’s down to individuals and schools to raise their expectations,” he said.
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‘Please don’t underestimate your pupils’
Asked what his life would have been like if his mother had not taught him to read and write using an alphabet board, he said: “I’d rather not think about it. I’d be left to my own thoughts and unable to communicate everything I can now. It’s difficult imagining how lonely and boring that would be.”
Mr Bryan had a message for those who might underestimate people with similar needs.
“If you are a teacher watching this, please don’t underestimate your pupils,” he said. “Anyone else, please remember, non-speaking is not the same as non-thinking.”
He encouraged people who are non-speaking and “have a story of how you learnt to read and write” to contact the charity he founded, Teach Us Too.
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A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are determined to break down the barriers to opportunity to ensure all young people with SEND, like Jonathan, can achieve and thrive. This includes making sure every child has a strong foundation in reading and writing as part of our Plan for Change.
“The system we’ve inherited has been failing to meet the needs of children and families for far too long and we are determined to improve inclusivity and expertise in mainstream schools, making sure special schools cater to children with the most complex needs.”
