The challenge, which is being opposed by the Department for Education, is being brought by the parents of a 13-year-old boy who was excluded from school due to behaviour linked to his autism. The parents' legal team will argue that existing regulations on exclusion discriminate against disabled children with conditions such as autism, which can result in physically aggressive behaviours.
Under current rules, the child, and other children with similar conditions, lose the protection from discrimination under equality laws because their challenging behaviour is said to be "a tendency to physically abuse", even in cases where the behaviour itself is a direct result of the child's condition.
This means children are not treated as "disabled" in relation to their physically aggressive behaviour. The legal team will argue that the resultant lack of protection under the Equality Act means that schools are not required to justify that a decision to exclude disabled children is proportionate or that they have taken reasonable steps to support the pupil so that the challenging behaviour might be prevented or reduced.
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