Patrick McCabe used eye-tracking technology to take his GCSEs and has just started his A-levels. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Patrick McCabe used eye-tracking technology to take his GCSEs and has just started his A-levels. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian Special educational needs ‘Just like my big brothers’: boy with cerebral palsy passes GCSEs with eye-tracking technology Patrick McCabe’s herculean feat shows limits and possibilities of special educational needs and disabilities system
Sally Weale Education correspondent Fri 2 Oct 2026 19.18 CEST Last modified on Fri 2 Oct 2026 19.44 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google P atrick McCabe is instantly recognisable in the early autumn sunshine, his wheelchair surrounded by fellow pupils at Fallibroome Academy in Macclesfield, Cheshire as they move from lesson to lesson, chatting, laughing and joking around.
His extraordinary GCSE success this summer has become the stuff of legend. The 16-year-old has cerebral palsy and it took four months for him to complete his exams using eye-tracking technology. Now Patrick has started his A-levels – French, business and media studies – and fresh challenges lie ahead.
In person, Patrick is impish, thoughtful, articulate, witty, intelligent and honest. Using his augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device, he tells the Guardian school has been a good experience overall. Born in Switzerland, his family moved back to England when he was six. Since then, he has gone to local mainstream schools, where he wanted to learn like everyone else.
“The best thing has been that, just like my big brothers, I’ve been able to learn and develop skills and gain knowledge of the world around me,” he said. “Even if some days I didn’t always want to go [to school], I think the opportunity to learn has helped me to grow and develop an independent mind.”
It has not been easy. “The most difficult things have been building meaningful relationships, and communication barriers do exist,” said Patrick. “People are not always familiar with Eyegaze technology and are not always willing or able to give it a chance in terms of friendships.”
View image in fullscreen Patrick with his mother Jo. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian In many ways, Patrick epitomises the Labour government’s ambitions for students with special educational needs and disabilities (Send). Forthcoming reforms are built on an inclusive approach , keeping children and young people in local – rather than special – schools with all the necessary expertise and support on hand.
But Patrick’s story also illustrates the scale of change required if education and assessment in England are to be truly inclusive. His experience shows that exams are far from accessible to all, his family and school say vital expertise is not always available and – crucially – funding is never enough.
“All we wanted was for Patrick to have the opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge and be given something resembling a level playing field compared to other students,” said the headteacher, Ross Martland. The school and Patrick’s mother, Jo, battled with the exam boards to try to ensure he was given a fair chance.
In the end, it doesn’t sound very fair at all. While his peers spent the first part of the year revising, Patrick’s exams got under way on 2 February and went on every morning until 5 June. It required a herculean effort from him, which left him exha…