LGBT Voices of Pupils with SEND

This paper particularly discusses the LGBT voices of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), who are also sometimes referred to as neurodivergent. Within this concept, I am also acknowledging the fact that many neurodivergent people have overlapping conditions and that increases the differences as perceived by society. The Equality Act 2010 is there to give people from marginalised groups the message that everyone deserves to be valued. In reality, many neurodivergent people can face multiple societal barriers daily. A lot of them have several overlapping conditions which will affect the way their thought processes will gain meaning from a situation, context or content. The more differences a person has in terms of the society’s ‘normal’ the more difficult it is for them in terms of those ‘normal’ systems. It is important to acknowledge that neurodiverse people who also identify as LGTB have even more barriers posed by society, partially due to layered stigma. For this category of people, the differences are increased as perceived by society.