James has routines, lots of routines, routines for many of the key moments of the day; there is the ‘getting up’ routine, the ‘breakfast’ routine, routines for ‘going to the toilet’, ‘having our lunch’, ‘having dinner’ and ‘going to bed’. The bedtime routine is quite complex as it involves physical items, songs, and prayers, there are lots of things to remember. This reliance on routines is not unusual for children, young people, or young adults (like James) who journey with a range of additional needs and differences. James is Autistic, has Learning Difficulties, Epilepsy, and Anxiety; and t ..read more

Have you ever felt yourself becoming sensory overloaded? Perhaps even to the point where you have become sensory overwhelmed? Perhaps you were in an environment that was just too loud, or too bright, or there were strong smells, or there were too many people, or a combination of several of these and others… It is possible for many of us to become sensory overloaded, you may even recognise the triggers that affect you. I was in a supermarket recently that, like they do, was playing music. Usually it doesn’t bother me, but this time the song they were playing (a rather loud, screechy, contempor ..read more

Jesus interacted with many people during his three years of ministry. Large crowds that gathered to hear him speak, people in the Synagogue when he was there to teach, his followers that journeyed with him; but there were many individuals who met with Jesus, and were transformed by their encounter with him, one-to-one. Many of these individuals had a disability, a health condition, or some other difference, that in their culture made life very hard for them. Bartimaeus who was blind, an unnamed woman had a condition that made her bleed, a boy is described as having a demon but probably had ep ..read more

Hi, I’m Romilly. I’m an Autistic 22 year old girl with a collection of medical conditions. For years I’ve struggled to make and maintain friendships; I didn’t understand others and they didn’t understand me. I often feel lonely and isolated because I just don’t understand the social rules that others seem to be born understanding. Despite my health issues, I got my GCSEs, however I was asked to leave the sixth form when my health issues became more ‘inconvenient’. I wanted to complete my education, but there was no one to support me in that. I went through a significant period of depression. O ..read more

At Christmas time we enjoy singing those favourite Christmas songs, and ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ is one of the most popular, but have you ever stopped for a moment to consider the lyrics to the song and realise that they are actually the story of many children with additional needs? Difference Rudolph is different to the other reindeer; he has a red nose that glows, and the others don’t. A physical difference that makes him stick out from all of his peers. Many children and young people with additional needs have differences which are visible, like Rudolph’s, although many also can ha ..read more

Sometimes I get asked why we should make the effort to reach out to children and young people with additional needs, when this sometimes means we have to balance their needs against the needs of the rest of the group. I always say the same thing… Jesus told us to go after the 1. In the parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus told the story of a shepherd leaving 99 sheep behind, to go and find the one sheep that was lost. Here’s the parable from Luke’s Gospel, taken from the New Living Translation: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the n ..read more

This is a guest blog from Molly Ashton, a long term home educating mum. She and her husband have four children, two by birth and two by adoption. Their older two are now young adults and she continues to home educate their girls; additional needs are a part of this journey… This morning has not been a good one. My first reaction is to justify myself; I’m not a bad mum;  the meltdowns and array of other behaviour one doesn’t want to talk about in polite company are not my fault.  But, if you are reading this, you will know that already as you too are walking a similar pathw ..read more

Based on figures issued by UK Govt. in April 2023, approximately 1.5m people in England (and so by extrapolation 1.8m people in the UK) have a learning disability[1].   In 2019/20, 80,135 children in England with a statement of SEN or an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan had a primary SEN associated with learning disability or difficulty[2]. Again, by extrapolating that figure across the UK we get to almost 100,000. Oxford Languages/Google Dictionary describes learning disability as “a disability that affects the acquisition of knowledge ..read more

When thinking about working with children and young people with additional needs and disabilities, churches typically find themselves at one of three waypoints on the journey; accessibility, inclusion, or belonging. But what do each of these waypoints look like, and how do churches move on from one waypoint to the next? Let’s go on the journey together, and as we reach each waypoint, we can explore what is happening there and how to continue on our journey. Accessibility: This is the bare minimum that churches are legally required to provide under current legislation e.g. the Equality Act 2010 ..read more

Many of us have witnessed it haven’t we? A car pulls into a disability parking space and out gets the driver, with no blue disability parking badge on display, hurrying away before anyone challenges them. Or if someone does remind them that this is a space for disabled drivers only, they are met with a torrent of abuse. So why do people do it? Why do people who don’t have a blue badge demonstrate such bad behaviour by parking in a disability parking bay? A disability parking space in a car park Over the years I’ve seen this happen many times, and have often heard the justifications given; I’ve ..read more