Did anyone see the derogatory story about a teacher with Dyspraxia who lost his employment Tribunal

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Tom fod
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Did anyone see the derogatory story about a teacher with Dyspraxia who lost his employment Tribunal

Post by Tom fod »

Earlier this week the Daily Mail (or Daily Fail) Sun and Metro reported about a teacher with Dyspraxia who had lost an Employment Tribunal against a school in London. The way it was reported was especially unfair as it read like the gentleman was unable to read or write, which is as far from the truth as one can get.
Tom
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Re: Did anyone see the derogatory story about a teacher with Dyspraxia who lost his employment Tribunal

Post by firemonkey »

It seems to me some people need to educate themselves about dyspraxia.
AdiB47
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Re: Did anyone see the derogatory story about a teacher with Dyspraxia who lost his employment Tribunal

Post by AdiB47 »

Yes, read about this via Dyspraxia&Life. The news articles make for an exasperating read and are another example of shoddy journalism from people who should know better. I know a complaint is being lodged: it will be interesting to see the outcome. It's important that things like this are picked up on so people know they can't always just write un-researched rubbish.

As a teacher myself it's a matter close to my heart. I did nearly leave teaching twice, due mainly to organisational and handwriting struggles - this was before it even occurred to me that I had dyspraxia, let alone being diagnosed. I was fortunate in a number of ways and was able to stick with it but this depended on people in authority exercising an element of common sense: it was clear I was working extremely hard and I had got through training so I couldn't be inherently incapable of doing my job.

What I found troubling, aside from the ignorance about dyspraxia and the absence of the teacher's voice during any of the reporting, was the tribunal's ruling that he was fired because of the effect of his dyspraxia, not the dyspraxia itself. That is either total rubbish or suggests that the school did not make reasonable adjustments. Or both.

A long way to go in proper understanding, it seems, and in the meantime a teacher's career is in ruins.
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Re: Did anyone see the derogatory story about a teacher with Dyspraxia who lost his employment Tribunal

Post by firemonkey »

I posted about this on a schizophrenia forum I'm a member of. There's a glossing over of the inaccuracy of the newspaper reporting as though it's no big deal.
Tom fod
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Re: Did anyone see the derogatory story about a teacher with Dyspraxia who lost his employment Tribunal

Post by Tom fod »

It certainly must have been a big deal for the unfortunate gentleman concerned. The way the story was twisted to suit media agendas was disturbing and infuriating. There was a lot of deeply regrettable failure to communicate and the way the media portrayed it, he could 'barely read or write,' yet he had given up a job in the city to try to turn his hand to teaching and give something back only to be fed to the lions.
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Re: Did anyone see the derogatory story about a teacher with Dyspraxia who lost his employment Tribunal

Post by Brannum »

firemonkey wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 9:22 pm I never knew how amazing these electric log splitters really are and posted about this on a schizophrenia forum I'm a member of. There's a glossing over of the inaccuracy of the newspaper reporting as though it's no big deal.
Saddens me to see how uneducated most people still are about Dyspraxia. We have a giant task in front of us.
Last edited by Brannum on Tue Nov 28, 2023 2:54 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Tom fod
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Re: Did anyone see the derogatory story about a teacher with Dyspraxia who lost his employment Tribunal

Post by Tom fod »

Part of me thinks that we could never win over anyone who reads that story and isn't able to recognise it doesn't conform to or reflect the whole story. There is thankfully a lot more awareness than there used to be, but I do agree that there regrettably still remains an unacceptable degree of ignorance in many quarters.

It's not just Faisal, but also society, the school and children who have lost out. He'd been selected for a place and received a placement on the TeachFirst scheme so there is a shared responsibility for TeachFirst, and the school to be sufficiently flexible in how anyone meets and fulfils key requirements for the role an individual is placed into and that this is clearly communicated and any disputes or concerns of capability are sensitively addressed in private without half truths being splashed out by the gutter press to provide food for trolls.
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Re: Did anyone see the derogatory story about a teacher with Dyspraxia who lost his employment Tribunal

Post by Andrew_S_Hatton »

I would not have known about it but for Pete Guest's work in drawing it to attention, I see he has reported it to the media regulator and I am looking forward to discovering the outcome of the referral.
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Re: Did anyone see the derogatory story about a teacher with Dyspraxia who lost his employment Tribunal

Post by allesandro »

AdiB47 wrote: Thu Apr 11, 2019 6:30 pm Yes, read about this via Dyspraxia&Life. The news articles make for an exasperating read and are another example of shoddy journalism from people who should know better. I know a complaint is being lodged: it will be interesting to see the outcome. It's important that things like this are picked up on so people know they can't always just write un-researched rubbish.

As a teacher myself it's a matter close to my heart. I did nearly leave teaching twice, due mainly to organisational and handwriting struggles - this was before it even occurred to me that I had dyspraxia, let alone being diagnosed. I was fortunate in a number of ways and was able to stick with it but this depended on people in authority exercising an element of common sense: it was clear I was working extremely hard and I had got through training so I couldn't be inherently incapable of doing my job.

What I found troubling, aside from the ignorance about dyspraxia and the absence of the teacher's voice during any of the reporting, was the tribunal's ruling that he was fired because of the effect of his dyspraxia, not the dyspraxia itself. That is either total rubbish or suggests that the school did not make reasonable adjustments. Or both.

A long way to go in proper understanding, it seems, and in the meantime a teacher's career is in ruins.
Saying that he wasn't fired for having dyspraxia, but for the effects of the dyspraxia is like saying someone wasn't fired for being blind, but because of the effects of their blindness. I'm not surprised, we don't seem to get the same considerations for dyspraxia that other people get for their disabilities, tangible disabilities that is like deafness, blindness, paralysis, etc. at least that's my experience
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