Thought for the Day, 19 March 2007

Jonathan Bartley

Good morning.

David Cameron's green credentials have come under fire with the revelation that he recently flew just 93 miles for a private meeting. It transpires that the Tory leader was trying to squeeze into his schedule a visit to discuss the design of a new wheelchair for his disabled son.

I have a great deal of sympathy. My own son is a wheelchair user, and such equipment is vital to enable children like ours to engage with the world around them. And as any parent who has a child with special needs will tell you, time is a precious commodity. Presumably even more so, if you are the leader of a political party.

The charge of hypocrisy suggests a failure to recognise the importance of including those with special needs. It is nevertheless quite typical of social attitudes as a whole. Efforts that are made to help disabled people become more included in society are often seen in largely negative terms - whether it be an exceptional environmental cost associated with trying to design a new wheelchair, or the burden of creating access to a built environment.

In days gone by, those with disabilities were often placed behind the walls of institutions. But now there are walls of a different kind. These are the barriers erected by people unable to grasp the varying and unique contributions that those with special needs have to make.

This is particularly evident in the field of education. Many parents are currently engaged in battles to break down the walls surrounding mainstream schools. Often head teachers make all the right noises about inclusion. But parents then encounter a refusal to make the necessary modifications and adaptations which would enable their child to attend. Many teachers hide behind health and safety regulations. It is even suggested that the admission of a disabled pupil will adversely effect the education of others.

In the gospels, Jesus criticised his disciples for placing barriers in front of those children who wanted access to him, but were considered a burden. He removed the walls and welcomed these children. He saw them not as a problem to be overcome but as people who had something important to give. The community would be the poorer for their absence. Indeed, he even suggested that God's Kingdom belonged to 'such as these'. These troublesome children had a better grasp on the world than a lot of adults.

In the fourth century Didymus the Blind was nick-named Didymus the See-er because he saw more profoundly than those with physical sight. Those with disabilities often bring a perspective on the world around them that the able-bodied are unable to offer. They can teach us how to care, how to laugh and how to love in new ways. They can teach us how we should really live. And this is an education of unlimited value.

Inclusion can be costly. But the price will be more than repaid - if we are willing to foot the bill.