Disabled Children and the Equality Act 2010: What Early Years providers need to know and do

Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential.

Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances.

The Department for Education (DfE) guidance on the Early Years Foundation Stage opens with these two important statements. They embody both a commitment to that best possible start in life, and a recognition of the importance of early experiences in shaping later life chances.

The importance of the early years of children’s lives is widely recognised. From Marmot to Leadsom, from the EPPE studies to the report of the Children’s Commissioner there is a consistent message about the importance of giving every child the best possible start in life. Recent research has taught us more about the importance of early experiences and their impact on life chances. Longitudinal studies have highlighted the impact of poorer early experiences of school for young disabled children, compromised ambitions and expectations in teen years and, as disabled adults, experiences of social isolation that are linked to childhood identified disability.

This guide is intended to close this gap. It is designed to support all those working in the early years to ensure the best possible start in life for disabled children and positive early experiences that contribute to be a better, happier childhood, to better lives as children grow through their teenage years and to improved life chances and better experiences as disabled adults.