The Guardian is reporting that budgets for special needs education are just about at breaking point. ”County councils across England are warning that the cost of covering special needs education is breaking their budgets, with local authorities overspending by more than £100m last year to meet the sharp rise in demand.” This is an issue obviously an issue very close to my heart, but what I’m most curious about is, what caused this  spike in demand? It can’t be simply because there are more kids around with disabilities these days.  I suspect the reason is a lot more complex, and I now want to look into it. The whole notion of being a disabled person now seems to be opening up, and the disabled community is becoming much broader. That, as a guy with what you could call an old fashioned physical disability, interests me, and I think it’s worth deeper investigation.