Letters: EQUAL IN THE EYES OF CHILDREN

We are extremely disappointed at the furore created around children's television presenter Cerrie Burnell's missing arm and the prejudice she has faced because she was born with a disability.

Many of our own students suffer from severe and complex disabilities and have aspirations to go into the public eye, so what kind of message does this send to them? Seeing people like Cerrie in the mainstream should be viewed as normal but instead she has been subject to adult ignorance. At our school, young people regularly go into the town centre, where they are accepted as part of the local community - as they should be - and other mainstream schools in the area where they have found other children to be receptive and understanding. We find the attitudes between adults and children differ greatly. The familiarity of disabilities needs to start in the home to break down these barriers.