On a cold morning in January, Hawkley Brook College, Wigan and Oakfield College, Hindley were pleased to host a visit by Peggy Groce, who runs travel training for students with special needs for the whole of New York City.

It could be said that Peggy's organisation  is somewhat bigger than the set-up in Wigan run by Don and Karen, but this was intended as a learning and mutual support exercise and was very successful.

Peggy was happy to meet and greet the management who made her welcome, but from the start she was pretty obviously eager to be with the kids. Her first visit was to some of our students who will never be bus users, but then a large part of the message Peggy brought from the states was that absolutely everyone has the right to travel and that the state makes sure that you can. Perhaps our DD Act doesn't use such straight-forward language.

She travelled with three students on a couple of our local bus routes, which must have seemed rather tame trips compared to the ones some of her students make. A lot of their journeys are on the New York subway (think three times as big as the London Underground and three times as complex). But the work her trainers do covers exactly the same ground as anything we do. Safety, confidence, knowing your route and the certainty of your trainer that you can do it are the key elements after your trainer has prepared the way.

Her visit to Oakfield was spent, for the most part, talking to students about their future plans and concerns, in which the ability to travel plays a large role.

The most important message Peggy left us is that Travel Training is now a worldwide activity. In the US they got into it years ago as a result of very forthright and courageous legislation. But, like many others, the countries of the UK are catching up. We need to stay in touch with development in neighbouring states so that we can use them to push for enhanced provision at home.

Peter, Edward and Peggy off on the buses