Newly published statistics have shown that an increasing number of aspiring teachers consider personal disabilities no barrier to
education recruitment.
According to the official figures, in the 2009-10 academic year a total of 2,084 students with disabilities enrolled themselves in higher education courses designed to lead to
teaching jobs.
Stuart Newton, 40, teaches economics and politics at the Anglo European School in Essex and also has the neurological condition transverse myelitis.
He tells the Guardian: "At the start of every new class [… I] tell my pupils all about myself, to explain what I've done and show that if you have high goals you can succeed."
The 2009-10 figures represent an increase of more then 400 student teachers since 2005-06, when the total number enrolling for courses leading to education recruitment was 1,665, according to the newspaper.
Transverse myelitis is caused by inflammation across segments of the spinal cord and results in interrupted communications between the nerves located there and the rest of the body.
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