Teen's campaign to raise awareness of disabilities

This article is published in today's Leicester Mercury:

Teen's campaign to raise awareness of disabilities

A teenager is campaigning to make teaching children about disability awareness compulsory in schools.

Paige Murray, who has cerebral palsy, believes that including the subject in the national curriculum would help dispel the sort of ignorance that led to her being bullied as a youngster.

The 18-year-old, from Braunstone, Leicester, has started an e-petition on a Government website.

If she can persuade 100,000 people to sign up then the issue will be eligible for a debate in the House of Commons.

Paige said: "My mission is to get the issue discussed by MPs in Parliament, which would be absolutely brilliant.

"The last time I checked there were more than 200 signatures but I'm gathering support every day."

The Gateway College student knows how painful being bullied because of a disability can be.

She said: "My first experience began when I was about 11 and it was from other children and people in my community. It continued for several more years.

"Most of it was teasing and name-calling but there were also more serious incidents like a time someone threw a stone at my head and eggs were thrown at our house.

"It made me angry because I was being targeted simply because I was disabled. It made me feel very low and was not a very nice time."

Paige rose above her tormentors – and her disability – by throwing herself into sport and volunteering to help improve her community.

She is keen swimmer and member of the Leicester Penguins club, she recently competed in the national championships for disabled swimmers in Sheffield.She said: "If we could get disability awareness on the school curriculum I feel there would be more understanding and less ignorance towards people with a disability."

Barbara Howard, director of Leicestershire disability charity Mosaic, is backing Paige's campaign.

She said: "Many disabled adults we talk to have incredibly low self-esteem because of bullying while at school.

"Having disability awareness lessons as part of the national curriculum is an excellent idea and something that should have been introduced ages ago.

"If you can get to young people then hopefully it can stop the kind of negative attitudes which can result in serious anti-social behaviour towards people with disability when they are adults."

Leicester West MP Liz Kendall, who has nominated Paige to carry the Olympic torch next year, said: "This is a brilliant campaign. Paige is an inspirational young woman who has always championed better awareness about the issues affecting young people with disabilities. I wish her every success."

Paige's campaign comes as ministers carry out a review of Personal, Social, Health and Economic education, which sometimes includes disability issues, as well as the National Curriculum as a whole.