11.39 The curriculum range for many adults with learning difficulties has narrowed since the 1992 Further and Higher Education Act. The FEFC's Tomlinson Committee report on Inclusive Learning has set out an engaging and ambitious agenda for the future and has already led to an increased focus in colleges on work with and for adults with learning difficulties and other disabilities. Tomlinson's approach is simple but powerful. Adopting inclusive learning as a strategy means that institutions should avoid "the viewpoint which locates the difficulty or deficit with the student and focus instead on the capacity of the educational institution to understand and respond to the learner's requirement" by attending to all aspects of the Government. We commend the perspective set out in the Tomlinson report to all concerned with organising, funding or the delivery of learning opportunities, especially to people with learning difficulties and disabilities.

11.40 In the meantime, there remain many practical problems to address. For example, home-to-learning centre transport costs are a major barrier to participation for many people with disabilities. A challenging agenda for action for creating learning opportunities for adults with mental health difficulties, drawing on examples of good practice from across the country, has recently been set out in a joint publication from NIACE and FEDA (Alison Wertheimer, 1997, Images of Possibility). Much can be learned from such good examples, and we believe that many providers could adapt them to their own circumstances. We also endorse the recommendations made in the Mental Health Foundation's report Building Expectations that Government should, as a matter of priority support the development of more self-advocacy courses to support people with learning difficulties to learn to speak up for themselves.

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