The Campaign

It is a pleasure to introduce to you the ‘I Rise’ campaign and its core objectives christened ‘Vision 2030’. This campaign has its origin in the disturbing experiences of children with special and additional needs and their families in the education sector.

In the UK such educational experiences have been window-dressed over the years. In some other countries they have either not been attended to with the seriousness they deserve or given significant formal attention.

Taster:

After reading this letter I invite you to get in touch with any member of society living on your street or in your neighbourhood, who cares for a child with a disability or additional needs who is in a school. Or a colleague at work. Or anyone taking care of a child with needs who is in school. Ask them about their experience of managing their child(ren’s) education.

This is a simple task. I believe that your findings will be disturbing.

You may find that their experience is very prevalent, yet not a popular subject of public discourse. The more you learn about this issue, the more you may realise the fact that it is a well-dressed up national scandal.

‘I Rise’ and its logo represent the voices of these vulnerable children and their families. Through ’I rise’ these children and their families say to society: ‘We are here and are a part of you. Please hear our concerns’. The central objective of ‘I Rise’ is to engender dialogue in the wider society regarding challenges regularly faced by children with disability and additional needs in the primary and secondary school sectors. It also aims to amplify this issue within the scope of the 4^th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG): Inclusive and equitable quality education.