We live in an environment which prevents and excludes many people from living, working and being educated equally in our society. Numbers of profoundly disabled children are increasing and they are enjoying longer lives, more than thought possible previously, as a result of the advances in medical knowledge.

In particular, it has been identified that there is a severe lack of information on the needs of disabled children within the environment. There are no current standards of construction and criterion available to assist those in the design and construction process.

The legislative imperative is for equality in use, but with no clearly defined criteria to enable one to ‘comply’ with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), how can today’s designers, clients and contractors meet the anticipatory duty? Advice is needed to establish suitable physical levels of inclusion to meet disabled children’s needs throughout the various sectors.

This research reviews and establishes the definition of disability in terms of children, and provides a statistical evaluation of the numbers and levels of disability. It reviews current good practice and reflect upon lessons which have been learnt, collates available information and defines the gaps in guidance.