School image vs a weak immune system

"Sorry, but I don't care. You're going to school in a coat and you can take it off before we get to school ".

I remember looking at my mum in surprise, as she is normally all for following rules (which is where I get it from), but even my mum thought that the school’s image was not worth my health. My old secondary school was quite strict with uniform rules. You couldn’t go to the bathroom without your blazer in case there were visitors in the school, girls could only wear tights with a skirt, you couldn’t wear trousers - to name just a few.

So back to the coat. Only the school coat was allowed. But nobody wore it. It was so puffy it wouldn’t fit in school lockers with your other stuff. Then the school came out with a rain jacket but I wore it just once. When I did wear it someone called me a "cute Oompa Loompa" and well, that was not the look I was going for.

It wasn’t just the coat that was an issue. We were not allowed to wear our P.E. kits outside school because it was not the image the school wanted to show. This means that if P.E. was in the morning or the last lesson of the day, I had to get changed three times in a short time, which would take more energy out of me (my health condition means I tire easily). It wasn’t just me who questioned these uniform rules; many others did. We did not want to rock up to school in glittery luminous pink and green coats, but plain black or navy. We could not see how that could damage the school's image.

I don’t have firm evidence to link the number of times I was sick in the winter to the school's uniform policy. I was going to school five days a week, which was a chest infection dream. But looking back, I realise that the school image rules affected me more than me feeling cold and risking becoming sick. The subconscious message being told was that my health didn’t matter and that adjustments wouldn’t be made for me. The impact was not just on me but my school and the school image they were trying to uphold, because seeing pupils walking to school in just their school uniform without coats or warm clothes in cold or snowy conditions shows an uncaring, irresponsible image, never mind if someone knows a student has a disability or condition and that they had to go to school underdressed for the weather.

My school has changed its uniform policy. I now see students leaving school with P.E. kits, and girls can wear trousers. When I first saw this, my first reaction was shock. Really? My school allows that! My second reaction was somewhat mixed, happy, students didn't have to suffer the cold anymore, but I also felt a pang of anger because it felt like the reason they gave us was not as immovable as they had once made out. So, my health was not important to them and here was the proof.  

I’m not saying that school image does not matter, but schools can have tunnel vision when it comes to their reputation and they forget the impact this can have on their students with disabilities and health conditions, both physical and mental.

Schools may not realise but the image portrayed isn’t quite what they were aiming for.

Ciera, Well at School