Ms Lucinda Murrihy:

It is really important to design schools for all children and that must include inclusive spaces. We can sometimes be very two-dimensional in our thinking. Ultimately, we need to listen to children, consider their needs and what will support them and then design schools that way.

We will find the answer is probably not what we already have packaged together. It is really important to be creative. Even from a personal perspective, my two children get in a taxi every morning, leave their community and pass the school, 70 m away, to access what is appropriate education. Appropriate education should be every school. That is about looking at our mindset as a nation. When it comes to inclusive education and tackling that mindset, we are still stuck in an othering and dehumanising kind of mindset. Every child should be able to access his or her local school. One thing makes me sad about my children getting in taxis and leaving the community. My son is non-speaking. That is a language many of us do not yet know, but he is the key to teaching us about that when he is in his community. It is a huge loss when he is leaving the community every day and I watch hundreds of children pass by our house. It is so important that we work to make every school inclusive and accessible to all children. It is not about special or appropriate spaces, but about really looking inside our schools as the hearts and souls and funding true inclusion and staying away from funding othering and special.