Aberdeen parents in shock after being offered version of class photo excluding disabled children

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Parents have been left “devastated” after they have been offered a version of a major college class photo with children with “complex needs” eliminated.

Those faraway from the images included a nine-year-old lady with cerebral palsy in a wheelchair and a woman with additional assist wants (ASN).

One mom whose daughter had been faraway from one set of photographs mentioned it felt like having her little one “erased from history”.

The provide was given by Cornwall-based agency Tempest Photography – which employs native photographers to take college photographs throughout the UK.

A photographer took two separate photographs of a class at Aboyne Primary School in Aberdeenshire – which has a devoted further wants hub – with children with ASN reportedly faraway from one set.

Parents have been then despatched a hyperlink with each variations to select from.

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Natalie Pinnell, whose daughter Erin was amongst these excluded, instructed the Press and Journal: “I am absolutely heartbroken. Furious.”

She added: “To give people the option to erase my daughter from history for the sake of optics is frankly inhumane. One of the cruellest things that I’ve ever experienced.

“Me and the other parents just feel devastated beyond belief.”

She instructed the MailOnline that whereas Erin was fortunately unaware of the state of affairs, she is “dreading” having to elucidate the incident to her sister.

“It has been a hard thing to process as a family. As a mum I want to champion her, and to have people thinking she is erasable is just devastating beyond belief,” she instructed the paper.

She added: “It’s been the most traumatic experience as a family that we have felt.

“I really wanted to believe there was a different reason. I was trying to look for a reason why someone would have made that decision.

“We have mourned. We have hurt. I feel like I haven’t even hit the bottom of my shock. It’s been absolutely devastating.”

A second father or mother, Lisa Boyd, additionally instructed the newspaper her daughter Lily, a wheelchair consumer with cerebral palsy, was faraway from an alternate photo,

She added that the nine-year-old’s twin sister was “devastated”.

“Her twin sister, Iona, is in a different class and I only got one photo for that class but I got two for Lily’s – one without my kid in it. It’s horrendous,” she instructed the MailOnline.

Both parents have been eager to stress the college itself was an inclusive setting and that they have been to not blame for the incident.

Aberdeenshire Council has since apologised to parents, stating the choice was not taken by the college and has instantly eliminated the hyperlink to the photographs.

A spokesperson mentioned: “We are aware that following Aboyne Primary School’s recent school class photographs, links to purchase the pictures included images with and without complex needs provision pupils.

“Whilst this was not a decision taken by the school, we absolutely appreciate the distress and hurt this has caused some parents and carers and we are sincerely sorry.

“The issue has been taken up with the photography company directly as this is totally unacceptable.

“Aboyne is an inclusive school and every single child should be included, engaged and involved in their learning and school experiences.”

Tempest Photography additionally mentioned it had launched an investigation into the matter stating: “We are currently investigating the situation with the school, and have no further comment.”