This chapter is about our family experience and the wider systemic issues of racism, ableism and how these systems intersect to deny and damage the futures of African Caribbean boys in particular.
This was such an important piece of writing for me and my family, bringing together both personal and professional experiences of school exclusions, the local authority appeals system, disability discrimination tribunals and autism diagnosis.
The chapter explores the wider political context that Black families are struggling within; and examines the lack of understanding within education about the needs of neurodivergent students who don’t and can’t fit into the narrow and often rigid school behavioural policy agenda.
I am so happy to see our story about Black autistic experiences included in this important publication.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter from The Neurodiversity Reader, published by Pavilion Publishing and Media on 24th September 2020, available online: https://www.pavpub.com/mental-health/the-neurodiversity-reader ISBN: 9781912755394
Akoma Healing H`Arts 
[…] When the OCC They Never Give Up on you Report (2012) states: ‘A black Caribbean boy eligible for free school meals who also has special educational needs (SEN) is 168 times more likely to be permanently excluded than a white British girl without SEN and not eligible for free school meals we should be shocked by these statistics. However it is unlikely that this statistic takes into account the experience of Black autistic boys, a particularly vulnerable group that we do not know much about. A recent chapter in ‘The Neurodiversity Reader published by Pavillion Press explores the experience of African Caribbean autistic boys and school exclusions in more detail click here […]
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