Overwhelmed by the beautiful comments I have received, I want to thank you for getting my message out – that children like me need to be taught to read and write.

Please continue to share my petition and make a difference to children still locked in and not being taught.

#TeachUsToo

BBC Points West – 29th June 2016

Finding myself on the front page of not one but two newspapers was amazing!  Enjoying media interest is one thing but changing the system for children like me is my purpose.

Follow my campaign on Twitter @eyecantalk

Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard – Thursday 16th June 2016

Gazette & Herald

This is the letter I wrote to the Minister for Education to ask her to reform the special education system to teach children like me to read and write.

Dear Minister,

My name is Jonathan Bryan and I am 10 years old. Until last year I was unable to communicate, as I am in a wheelchair with Cerebral Palsy and my voice does not work.  Learning to spell, using only my eyes, has totally transformed my life, but it is only possible because my mother taught me to read and write.  What brings me incredible sorrow is watching my non-verbal friends in wheelchairs miss out on the fullness of life because no-one believes that they are worth teaching literacy to, and waiting locked in for someone to give them a chance to have a voice.

In my experience, non-verbal children like me can’t be described as having Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD) when they have never been taught. At the age of 4, I entered the special education system yoked with the label PMLD despite no-one having taught me; or having found a way for me to communicate. I believe children like me should be reclassified as having Profound and Multiple Access to Learning Difficulties.  Special needs teachers must believe in the potential of their pupils, take the time to find out how the different children will access literacy, and then teach them.  Disabled children with communication issues are not being taught in special schools.  They are being babysat!

If literacy was taught to children in special schools more children would be unlocked like me.  My dream is that every non-verbal child is taught to read and write.  Underestimating special needs children is robbing them of their right to education and communication.  Until this is seen as the abuse it is, nothing will change.  Reforming the special needs curriculum must be a priority.

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Bryan

Learning to spell has totally transformed my life, but it is only possible because my mother taught me to read and write.  What brings me incredible sorrow is watching my non-verbal friends in wheelchairs miss out on the fullness of life because no-one believes that they are worth teaching literacy to.  Seeing them sit with staring eyes makes me yearn to help them, I have written this poem describing what it is like for them.  I’m in the unique position of knowing what this feels like having been in the special school system for five years prior to being able to spell.

Song of Silence

Numbness making sensory dead!
Inhibiting freedom fearing change,
Sanity seeping sadly down,
Shutters closing, everyday night.

Ceasing hope holding shame aloft,
Kept like wounded trapped birds caged inside,
Why should silence drown their spirit?
Who can free their souls aching sorrow?

© Jonathan Bryan

My dream is that every non-verbal child is taught to read and write.  Underestimating special needs children is robbing them of their right to education and communication.  Until this is seen as the abuse it is, nothing will change.  Reforming the special needs curriculum must be a priority.