Fighting for Change: The SEND Rally Experience

In this week's episode of The Autism Mums Podcast  we wanted to share with you our experiences of attending the fight for Ordinary Send Rally at Parliament Square Gardens in London last Monday, the 15th September.

Key Takeaways

Community Support: The rally highlighted the importance of community and connection among parents and advocates in the SEND space, fostering a sense of solidarity.

The Importance of Advocacy: Attending the rally underscored the need for collective advocacy to bring attention to the challenges faced by SEND families.

Emotional Experiences: Both hosts shared their feelings of anxiety and excitement about attending the rally, illustrating the complexity of leaving their children to advocate for change.

Speaker Impact: Key speakers at the rally, including politicians and advocates, provided hope and insight into the ongoing struggles and needs within the SEND system.

Parliamentary Debate: Following the rally, a significant parliamentary debate took place, emphasising the urgency of addressing SEND issues and the need for accountability in the system.

Recommendations for Change: The episode detailed recommendations made by MPs to improve SEND accountability, including strengthening the SEND Tribunal and ensuring compliance with existing laws.

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Transcript

Victoria

Bennion: [00:00:00] Welcome

back to the Autism Mums podcast. Today we wanted to share with you

our experiences of attending the fight for Ordinary Send Rally at

Parliament Square Gardens in London last Monday, the 15th. It was so

amazing to come together with the rest of the community but we just

wanted to jump on quickly and do a short episode about it to let

those of you know who couldn't be there, what went down.

Natalie

Tealdi: It was so good to be there. We know many others

wanted to come but couldn't. It isn't easy to coordinate, but somehow

the stars aligned for us to attend. Please know that we took you all

there with us in spirit.

Victoria

Bennion: I felt really lucky that we could be there. I

don't know about you, Nat, but it wouldn't always be possible. And I

know for so many parents and carers who wanted to be there, but they

couldn't. Ironically, because some of them have got their children

out of school, they're driving miles to get their children into

school.

You know, it's specialist

provision. So. [00:01:00] Yeah, I think

we were really lucky that we had the opportunity to be there in the

first place.

Natalie

Tealdi: It was a strange day for me because it's the first

time I've left both of my children for the whole day. It felt very

weird just packing a bag for myself and no one else. It was nice to

not have to feel like a pack horse for once. I did have some anxiety

about how they would be without me, but I felt it was so important

for us to be there, so I just had to focus on that.

Victoria

Bennion: To set the picture, so I got up at five 30 to

walk the dog. I know, many of you will know, sometimes it's not easy

and it takes a lot of planning to be able to get out of the house for

a day.

We're in Dorset, so it's about

a three hour train ride to London. I walked the dog on the beach with

my mom in the pitch black. First, and then Natalie drove over to us

and then we got the car down to the station and my daughter came with

us as, she's not in school at the moment. [00:02:00]

She's been out of school for a year now.

And it was so nice. When we

got onto the next station, some of our friends joined and actually

one of our friends, we took a moment. We were just talking about how

we actually met in the school playground when our children were

struggling, and she assumed that.

, My son had autism as she

offered to land defenders. Natalie, you'd already met, her separately

at a party. I know. It was just funny that we've been on this journey

together and that we were off to London to the protest there came

some other moms who belonged to Carmen's Fix Send Dorsett group.

So that was great to meet some

new faces. And again, you have so much in common and everybody's

fighting for the same thing.

Natalie

Tealdi: Yeah, that was really lovely.

Victoria

Bennion: Obviously over the weekend there had been some

other very large rallies in London. So we'd certainly had family

members who were a bit nervous about us going up to London, but

[00:03:00] there was absolutely no sign

of it when we arrived. It was a really peaceful rally. It's my first

rally.

Was it for your first rally

too? Nat??

Natalie

Tealdi: Yes, it was

we were there early and as we

walked over the bridge, a few people were already gathered. The

ground was damp and boggy, from the rain, and the wind was quite

strong. But that didn't dampen our spirits. Did it look.

Victoria

Bennion: It was a nice, friendly atmosphere. We were just

surrounded by other people just like us who were all on the same

path, who understood. One of the speakers actually said that. Our

community, deserved an award for filling in the most paperwork.

And actually, if you just

looked around the whole of Parliament Square that was so true because

all of us have sat there writing E HCPs, DLA forms advocating for our

children. It's a lot of paperwork. So that did cause a laugh.

Natalie

Tealdi: It was a lighthearted moment that I think we can

all relate to.

Victoria

Bennion: Everybody there was so friendly people were

[00:04:00] chatting, asking each other

stories. We just all wanted to support each other to support the

rally and you know, ultimately be heard by the government before the

debate.

The rally was more than just

about raising our voices. It was really about connection as well. And

we loved meeting parents, advocates and creators. We follow online,

didn't we?

Natalie

Tealdi: Yeah, that was definitely the highlight for me.

Victoria

Bennion: It was great to meet the autism dads whose

podcast we listened to and also Fiona from. It's that parent in real

life, although I didn't realize it was her.

To start with, she was

speaking to our friend Carmen, and you know when you see her face and

then you, you're trying to place it. It wasn't actually until the

next day that I realized that she was Fiona from, it's that parent

who I follow on Instagram, so that was really cool as well.

Natalie

Tealdi: Yeah, it's a funny one, isn't it? I think when you

follow people online, sometimes, like if you see them in real life,

you think you're gonna say hello 'cause you think that they know you

because you follow them. So it could be [00:05:00]

like a really strange sort of feeling 'cause you feel like you know

them really well, but they don't have a clue who you are at all.

So, like in your case you see

them and you can't place them and you dunno why, and then suddenly

you're back on social media and you think, ah, that's who they were.

Victoria

Bennion: The organizers had done such a fantastic job. I

didn't really know what to expect, but they put out a map to show us

where we needed to head When we left the station, they told us where

there were nearby cafes, toilets, all those things. Making it really

comfortable and accessible for, people to attend.

Natalie

Tealdi: Yeah, they really had planned it all out so well.

I mean, so much work must have gone into it. So yeah, it was really

good.

Victoria

Bennion: And they had such a fantastic speaker lineup. Ed

Davey was there and he spoke and he was really great. The chair of

the education select committee came along, Helen Hayes.

There was former teacher and

neurodiversity advocate, Pete [00:06:00]

Wharmby, comedian and send parent, Alistair Barry was very funny. He

gave a great speech. There were also some younger campaigners, which

was really amazing to see and really to hear from their point of view

the effects that this system has had on them.

So there was Kate Nellist and

there was Charlotte Tall who were really impressive young people who

gave fantastic speeches, immigration lawyer and send parent Harjap

Bangal was there and the CEO of global child and maternal health.

Agnes aga pong

Natalie

Tealdi: how cool was it that Kelly Bright was there being

filmed for a Panorama documentary?

I remember watching her on TV

when we were Kids, I can't even remember the name of the program now,

Victoria

Bennion: I think it was called Teabag, you know, and then

there was that little boy t-shirt.

Natalie

Tealdi: But I think she's in East Enders now, isn't she?

But that was quite cool.

Natalie

Tealdi: She. And Jess from our train group was interviewed

for the Panorama documentary, so hopefully she'll be featured in

that, [00:07:00] which would be really

good.

Victoria

Bennion: It's great to see some, people with higher

profiles there just helping get attention for this issue.

Ed Davey really seemed to get

it, didn't he? As a send parent himself. It was great to hear him

sharing his personal insights and his own frustrations. And I think

like just hearing from him gave us hope that our voices are being

heard.

Natalie

Tealdi: The time flew by and it was soon all over and time

to head back to Waterloo to get the train home. We managed to find

this really nice, quiet restaurant to get a drink and a quick bite to

eat before getting on the train. And for me anyway, it was a much

needed moment of calm after all of the buzz of the rally.

I just really needed that time

to just decompress.

Victoria

Bennion: So following the rally, we were on the train on

the way home. I think by this point we headed off about half past

three 'cause obviously it's quite, takes quite a while. And then we

had children to be back for but after the rally there was a

parliamentary debate, which followed as a result of the petition

promoted [00:08:00] by the special needs

jungle and save our children's rights, which actually garnered over

125,000 signatures,

Natalie

Tealdi: We learned from the special needs jungle that the

debate lasted over three hours. MPS shared their personal experiences

regarding the State of SEND in the UK with Ros Savage mp. Leading the

discussion, many emphasized the lack of trust and accountability in

the Send system alongside heart wrenching stories from families.

Victoria

Bennion: IPSEA published a summary of the Education Select

Committee's report on solving the Send Crisis on Thursday, the 18th

of September. And in it it said that the mps have rejected the idea

of dismantling the sends legal framework and supported calls for the

system to work as it should.

They emphasize that the

solution can't be to remove statutory entitlements from a system that

already lacks accountability. Yay.

Natalie

Tealdi: And that's a really crucial point. The report

highlights a welcome focus on improving [00:09:00]

accountability. Mps recommend that OFSTED and CQC inspectors check

for compliance with the law on supporting children with send and give

lower ratings to local authorities. Failing in this area.

Victoria

Bennion: Mps also agree that the government must extend

the powers of the local government and social care ombudsmen to cover

complaints about the delivery of EHC plans and send support in

schools. So it really is a time for proper action.

Natalie

Tealdi: They also stated that the Send Tribunal must

remain and the government should monitor, send tribunal outcomes to

identify local authorities that repeatedly failed to comply with

their statutory duties. We are cheering for that one.

Victoria

Bennion: Yeah, and there's more. The Education Select

Committee believes the Send Tribunal should be able to issue legally

binding rulings to health services, not just education providers. And

that's a huge step forward for accountability.

Natalie

Tealdi: Mps recognize that restoring parents' [00:10:00]

confidence in the send system isn't just about involving parents.

It's about ensuring the law is followed so that children receive the

support they need.

Victoria

Bennion: Yeah, this gives us real hope for positive

change, but we are not there yet.

Natalie

Tealdi: We feel the rally was a really positive day. We've

shown the government that we will be heard and we will fight for our

children. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the coming

weeks, but one thing is for sure, we are more united than ever and

the flight will continue.

Victoria

Bennion: For sure.

Thank you for joining us for

this quick episode and we'll keep you updated on any developments and

continue advocating for change.

Natalie

Tealdi: And remember, we really wanna hear your stories

too. Share your experiences with us and keep the conversation going.

Victoria

Bennion: Until next time, take care