THE mother of a boy denied a grammar place has spoken of her family's hurt saying the school saw only a wheelchair - not a child.
Sarah Clarke wanted her son Josh, now aged 12, to attend Wallace High School in Lisburn - but the school blocked this.
The school later apologised when faced with a tribunal and will now review its policies and practices as well provide training to all staff.
Ms Clarke said her son was doing well in another school adding that no other family should suffer the same ordeal.
Josh has spinal muscular atrophy type 2 (SMA II) and uses a powered wheelchair. SMA II is characterised by muscle weakness that develops in children between 6-12 months. Those affected cannot stand or walk unaided.
Josh attended a mainstream primary school but did not enter the transfer test due to the pressure of time and a scribe being required. Educational psychologists instead had Josh sit IQ tests and concluded he should go to a grammar school.
The family had earmarked Wallace as an ideal setting as early as 2006 when viewing schools for Josh's older siblings.
Ms Clarke said very little work was needed to support Josh. It was accessible, had lifts and automatic doors, was under one roof and had appropriate toilet facilities.
"We expected to hear confirmation from January but heard nothing until May 2015, the week before schools were being released to other P7s," she said.
"Josh's primary school principal and the education board called me into a meeting. Wallace wanted to take our decision to send Josh to their school to judicial review and served a pre-action protocol letter.
"We then made the decision to go to the second choice school - Friends - where he was accepted and is thriving. Wallace's reasons for not accepting Josh were statutory - basically, not academically able, detrimental to the teaching of other children and not a good use of resources."
Ms Clarke said papers later provided to her by the school showed that it had involved lawyers as early as January 2015.
"They said we did not visit school so we were not in a position to pick it, they said they were concerned about mental health issues and depression and he could be isolated - he does not have any depression or mental health issues," she added.
The school also said Josh's test scores were not good enough. A full battery of testing had not been done by the educational psychologist due to his disability, however, experts said it would have been the same as asking a blind child to read a piece of text.
The family sought Equality Commission support and the case was due to be heard before a Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.
In June this year, the school reached a settlement with the family.
"I would have liked it to go to tribunal, but we got what we wanted which was an apology," Ms Clarke said.
"I was hurt by it. We see so much potential in him and I think they chose to see a chair, not a child. I don't understand a school that is not prepared to give him an opportunity.
"He is doing really well at Friends. He can't learn the way other children learn. he can't write and write - he relies on his memory.
"I still don't fully understand it. There are always going to be obstacles, but it is up to a school to work their way around these. I don't think Wallace wanted the hassle."
A settlement was reached before the tribunal was due to be heard in which the school board of governors said it "regrets and apologies for any hurt or upset it has caused to the claimant or her son Joshua".
"While not making any formal admission of liability the respondent acknowledges that the manner it dealt with the application of Joshua for a place in the school fell below the standard required of it in respect of compliance with disability discrimination legislation. The respondent will liaise with the Equality Commission to ensure such a situation does not arise again," the settlement continued.
The school must also "review their policies, practices and procedures to ensure that they are effective and conform with the requirements of the disability discrimination legislation and European law and will take steps to implement any reasonable recommendations the Equality Commission may make".
In addition, it will "provide training to all staff in relation to their obligations and responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act and best practice".
The principal and governors of Wallace have been unavailable for comment.
