There are lots of reasons why the right community care and support for people with learning disabilities and autistic people just isn’t there.
One of those reasons is the huge power imbalance that exists between professionals and people and families.
We asked our community to
Tony Hickmott, happy in his new home and having a wonderful time.
What a shame it took 22 years for the powers that be to realise this was possible.
We hope they are queuing up to apologise.
It really is about time professionals stopped using the statement, ‘this person has extremely complex needs’ to describe their own inability to do anything to help that person.
In 2017 Pam & Roy told me about Tony
Their autistic son detained in a crisis when he was 23
STILL locked away today aged 45
But…2 weeks ago …WOW!
We stood infront of a beaut bungalow, swarming with workmen, watching Tony’s forever home FINALLY take shape
@BBCBreakfast
🧵
Dear
@Warwickshire_CC
You really need to sort some of your councillors out.
This thread contains ignorant and offensive quotes from councillors. Please educate them, maybe show them the Nolan principles.
And remind them about hate crime.
🧵 Clips below:
Cllr Hammersley: "Is it something in the water?"
"Why are there so many people jumping out with these needs? Where were they when I was at school?"
"Why do so many people have this badge of SEND and special needs?"
"To stop this spend fix the problem at source"
Following
#BBCPanorama
, we’ve put together a few links where autistic people and people with learning disabilities can try to get help if they are stuck in ATU. We know this kind of abuse is endemic in the system.
1/
GAME CHANGER: The Equality and Human Rights Commissiin is considering prosecuting the Department of Health and the CQC over the human rights abuses of autistic people and people with learning disabilities locked up in ATUs. And rightly so...
There has been a lot of horror expressed about students in Manchester who barely know one another but who are now forcibly locked up together. Awful?
Welcome to ATUs...in fact welcome to residential care.
Utterly criminal.
Abuse of autistic people and people with learning disabilities is from cradle to grave it seems.
Assaults, neglect and a Taser revealed in ‘deeply shocking’ BBC care home investigation
Our letter to
@EHRC
regarding the violations of the human rights of people with autism and learning disabilities in psychiatric inpatient settings. Please share widely.
Jack Moore suffered hugely as a patient in Cedar House Hospital in Kent. He was a friend of Tony Hickmott who was a patient there for so many years.
Today Jack celebrated the closure of this hospital which had been rated inadequate and put in special measures.
Sometimes people
If you take the time to give people with learning disabilities a voice and then actually listen to that voice, you will find they talk a lot more sense than most and can quite easily fight for themselves. Historic health inequalities and ‘othering’ attitudes are the issue here.
People with learning disabilities: "Are so precious, so vulnerable & they have no way of fighting for themselves, we have to fight for them. Get them and their carers vaccinated, stop them dying.”
So well said,
@jowhiley
.
Love & strength to Frances 💙
Oh good grief
@VictoriaAtkins
. What is your point here? Autistic people and people with learning disabilities are much more likely to be harmed than they are to harm. It’s risk averse clinicians who are the problem here not their patients!
The Judge who delivered sentences against abusive social care staff at Whorlton Hall said it was an "unpredictable and inherently frightening place to live."
It's time the Government closed down such inpatient units detaining autistic people & people with learning disabilities.
Can we also stop with the "services in the community" nonsense. It's vague and othering. Let's just say a home and people to support us in that home. That's all most people want. "Services in the community" colludes with the "extremely complex needs" bollocks.
If you saw Dannielle on
#Dispatches
just now, please know she is keen for her voice to be heard. She writes poetry to help her through the darkness so we have made a video of one of her poems which describes her sexual abuse. Please share, for Dannielle.
It was good to join
@JeremyH09406697
and Paul Scarrott today as we gave evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights about the abuses suffered by people with autism and learning disabilities in psychiatric hospitals. One thing is for sure now...they can’t say they didn’t know.
The next Channel 4 Dispatches documentary will show that the inpatient scandal continues. Titled ‘Locked Away: Our Autism Scandal, it airs on 24th March and is directed by
@richardbutchins
“The reforms will also ensure neither autism nor a learning disability are grounds for detention under the act....”
News on the MHA White Paper released today.
Dear
@Jeremy_Hunt
,
Congrats on your appointment as Chancellor.
Could you now ensure that funding is made available for autistic and learning disabled people to live good lives in the community and not psych hospitals as recommended by
@CommonsHealth
when you were Chair?
Thanks
Just what is the point of psychiatric hospitals for autistic people and people with learning disabilities? Jack will be telling the story of his time in an ATU tomorrow on
@BBCBreakfast
. He says it was like being in prison or a zoo. Now he is free and his life is so much better.
Remembering all the autistic and learning disabled people who have lost their lives to Covid in the past year and hoping that the health inequalities that have contributed will soon be a thing of the past.
The parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights would like to hear evidence from anyone who has suffered possible human rights abuses in ATUs. We are happy to collate this. For more info email julienewcombe
@rightfullives
.net
It’s 12 years since the
@BBCPanorama
documentary about
#WinterbourneView
.
12 wasted years of talk, reviews and reports.
And no meaningful action.
Watch our vigil from the 10 anniversary and ask yourself if this rotten system will ever be fixed.
If you missed
@KeeleyMP
’s excellent speech in the Commons today about the abuse of autistic people and people with learning disabilities in inpatient settings today, you can watch it here. Barbara’s speech starts at 17:14.
Big Announcement!
On Monday at 7pm, Rightful Lives will take over
@NevilleSouthall
’s Twitter feed for 90 minutes to spread the word about the human rights abuses in ATUs. We’ll include links to articles and reports and tweets from self advocates.
Be there!
@LearningDisEng
Suspended sentences for four
#WhorltonHall
staff.
Where on earth is the justice in that
@MoJGovUK
? It’s a life sentence of trauma for their victims.
Whorlton Hall: Four carers sentenced for abusing hospital patients
Thinking of all those autistic people and people with learning disabilities locked up on hot psych wards and not permitted to have fans or curtains or blinds.
Unforgivable.
Lockdown was the brainchild of a bunch of men on the spectrum.
They lacked the emotional intelligence to feel or anticipate the appalling consequences of criminalising human contact.
They still have the gall to claim it was the right plan.
My column:
The Covid Inquiry gets
So
@DHSCgovuk
claims “We are committed to ensuring people with a learning disability and autistic people get the best quality support”.
No you’re not
@DHSCgovuk
. You’re really not.
Because you were saying that years ago, yet here we are.
Stop lying to us.
One deeply disturbing thought.
Yesterday evening
#Panorama
revealed instances of TORTURE in psychiatric hospitals.
This morning
@MattHancock
couldn’t be bothered to turn up to Parliament to discuss it.
In October 2018,
#RightfulLives
wrote an open letter to
@EHRC
asking that they take action against the government regarding the
#HumanRights
abuses of autistic and learning disabled people in ATUs. Today that action has been announced.
So here comes
#Nationalcarersweek
. In a pandemic.
When carers have been totally ignored and left at the back of the queue.
No help, no support, no money.
Rock on...
#RightfulLives
has written to Simon Stevens CEO of
@NHSEngland
asking him why the NHS is continuing to fund the detention of people in ATUs, often in abusive conditions, and at the same time line the pockets of private investors
Congratulations to
@ianbirrell
for winning Health Journalist of the Year for raising awareness about the horrors of ATUs and the dreadful abuses inflicted on autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
#pressawards
How very confusing for parents of SEND children. They are either middle class pushy parents after the ‘golden ticket’ of an EHCP or they are just ‘crap parents’, responsible for their children’s differences
Make your mind up
@Conservatives
@GillianKeegan
On the 31st May 2021 it will be 10 years since BBC Panorama screened the abuse at Winterbourne View. Join us in a vigil to remember those who were abused and are still being abused and or detained in hospitals.
#winterbourne10
Don’t forget
#Winterboune
,
#WhorltonHall
,
#CawstonPark
and all the other scandals involving the abuse of people with learning disabilities and autistic people.
More lives destroyed by professional incompetence, corporate greed and lack of accountability.
There will be a general debate about the 10th anniversary of Winterbourne View in the House of Commons on Thursday 10th June led by
@KeeleyMP
. If you get the chance, urge your MP to attend.
4 weeks ago Beth was kept locked in a seclusion cell
The Priory wanted her to go to Rampton. They said she needed High Secure Care.
Look at today..A family walk by a local river
How many more people are locked away just because a blinkered clinician cannot see the right way?
“We are generating traumatic experiences for people and then puzzling over why we can’t release people back into the community.”
In a nutshell from
@sarasiobhan
Lady Hale: “The Human Rights Act is an act of the United Kingdom parliament and takes precedence over subordinate legislation… This means that incompatible subordinate legislation must simply be ignored.”
You cannot be serious. Family carers have been last on the list for every bit of help and guidance going....and then you refused to increase Carers Allowance.
Feel free to get knotted...
I want to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all carers in the UK helping us through this pandemic.
Whether you work as a carer, or are caring for someone at home, your compassion and strength at this time is a beacon of hope for us all.
#CarersWeek
To those who say some autistic and learning disabled people need to be locked up, restrained and kept in solitary confinement......
READ THIS THREAD...
Amazing day with Beth.. First time I've seen her for over 100 days.
She caught loads of fish!!
It was tough social distancing and not having any hugs but hey!.we've been thru far worse!
She won the 'Kicked my dad's arse' fishing trophy and was rewarded with a new fishing hoody
We are sorry to hear that Bob Kerslake has died . He was a supporter of
#HomesNotHospitals
and the rights of people with learning disabilities to live in their own communities.
This week marks the 13th anniversary of the Steven Neary legal case that effectively brought the language of human rights into the lives of people with learning disabilities and autistic people. It also provided the impetus for the birth of Rightful Lives.
We asked
@MarkNeary1
Dear
@Keir_Starmer
Please could you let us know what
@UKLabour
will do to provide the right support in the community for autistic people and people with learning disabilities?
What will you do to close abusive hospital beds?
Asking for a lot of people.
Money from misery, profit from pain.
@ianbirrell
exposes just how much cash is being syphoned off from
@NHSEngland
on the back of the abuse of people with autism and learning disabilities in ATUs.
“For a life to count, it has to be counted.”
Our video about the government’s failure to protect people in care homes in the
#COVID19
pandemic. Please share and share again.
These are people and they have rights.
Have you watched our video yet
@MattHancock
@BorisJohnson
? The NHS is already being sold. It’s already on the table. When are you going to stop telling lies?
The Priory has been bought and sold by private investors 4 times in the last 15 years.
And there you have it. This is why these patients are being failed.
Profit.
#SecureHospitalUncovered
Three members of the Rightful Lives Admin Team have spent the past four years working with
@BaronessHollins
on her report into solitary confinement in psychiatric hospitals. The report is due out at 2pm and we will be making a statement.
The right support opens up the world for people like Bethany.
Staff who really understand the person they support and who do their utmost to fulfil dreams.
Community Integrated Care have helped Beth fulfil a lifetime dream today.. A trip to Comic Con.
They are awesome!!
Thank you for your tweets today in support of the
#rightfullives
exhibition. We are overwhelmed by the responses and we hadn’t envisaged getting to 1000 Twitter followers on day 1. Please keep sharing the website and thank you to all our amazing exhibitors
One more small, but vital recommendation from the recent
@HumanRightsCtte
report:
“Families must be given non-means tested funding for legal representation at inquests where the state has separate representation for one or more interested persons.”
@INQUEST_ORG
@DebatINQUEST
Dear
@EHRC
@EHRCChair
Please stop listening to providers, government officials and other professionals and start listening to autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
You can’t draw conclusions about their human rights until you listen to their voices.
There you go
@wesstreeting
. This is where it starts….
Want to meet us yet?
#LearningDisabilityWeek
Children mocked and held in headlocks by staff at special needs school
I raised that there are over 2,000 autistic people or people with learning disabilities detained in inappropriate in-patient units despite the Government promising to close them all down over TEN years ago.
@wesstreeting
is right, Ministers have shown breathtaking complacency.
Report from
@NHSEngland
that says, amongst other things, that we need research into what makes good community care for autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
How can they not know this already?
Well it’s the last day of March 2019 and around 2,300 autistic people and people with learning disabilities are still stuck in psychiatric hospitals.
Abused, over-medicated, restrained and in seclusion.
The architects of
#TransformingCare
should hang their heads in utter shame.
Meanwhile over 2000 beds are occupied by autistic people and people with learning disabilities, most of whom do not need to be in hospital, but who cannot be discharged because the right community services are not available and because a self serving system keeps them locked up.
🚨 INVESTIGATION: Britain's mental health system is broken. Patients & innocent members of the public are paying the price.
Today we reveal how dangerous mentally ill people are being routinely left in the community. Some will kill themselves or others:
On Tuesday, the wonderful
@KeeleyMP
has secured an adjournment debate to discuss the abuse of autistic people and people with learning disabilities in psych hospitals.
We ask what
@UKLabour
would do to empty the hospitals AND ensure there is good, safe community care instead.
Asking for a few friends.
We know human rights abuses are common in psych hospitals.
So why, after all this time, don’t
@CareQualityComm
and
@NHSEngland
commissioners go charging into any hospital where concerns have been reported, armed with lawyers, advocates and the police?
More moves from
@MattHancock
to free people from abusive ATUs. The authorities have got to make this work now...well done
@ianbirrell
for your tenacity and commitment. It’s great to work with you.
Why is it up to the CQC to find these horrors?
Where are the senior managers?
Where are the commissioners?
Mental health staff falsified records and assaulted patients - CQC
Are you going to comment on this
@wesstreeting
@Keir_Starmer
?
And where exactly does
@uklabour
stand on the rights of people with learning disabilities and autistic people?
Lots of voters would like to know…
🚨 Harrison Road planning application REJECTED
I supported local residents in opposing this proposal, as it would have caused increased noise, parking, and a change in the character of the property, which would have negatively affected the area.
Read my letter in full 👇🏿
Today
@DHSCgovuk
published
@BaronessHollins
excellent report into the use of solitary confinement for autistic people and people with learning disabilities.
The government also published its desultory and insulting response.
Our statement is here:
Let’s get this straight...
March 2018: the
#CQC
goes into Whorlton Hall following whistleblowing concerns.
May 2019: Action is finally taken.
So that’s 14 months of completely avoidable abuse.
#notfitforpurpose
Total failure of services. Bravery had a torrid time in a Priory ATU and had nowhere to live when he was discharged. He and his dad lived in cheap hotels.
And he was allowed out alone after telling his carers he wanted to kill someone.
His awful crime was completely avoidable. 1/
Season greetings to you all. Thinking of those locked away and of their families. And of those who are no longer with us because the system doesn’t care. The fight goes on.
#RightfulLives
Hi
@MattHancock
. I know you're busy & that's probably why you haven't followed up on your offer to talk with us. Here's a short film we've made which gives you a flavour of what we'd like to chat about.
We are at the beginning of a week of reports that will condemn the psychiatric inpatient system, for autistic people, people with learning disabilities, children and those with mental health issues. By the weekend
@MattHancock
, will anything have really changed?
Hi
@Jeremy_Hunt
. We listened to your budget. Why are you doing nothing for people with learning disabilities and autistic people stuck in ATUs, despite the recommendations you made as chair of
@CommonsHealth
?
And what about unpaid carers? No chance of then returning to work.
Utterly awful statement from LIFE Wirral about
@BBCPanorama
.
Basically they are saying, ‘It’s not our problem, guv. Blame the reporter’.
If the reporter,
@SashaHinde
, hadn’t gone in, these children would still be being abused. How does that sit with you
#LIFEWirral
?
The expose of LIFE Wirral Sports school systemic abuse of their pupils by
@BBCPanorama
is overshadowed only by LIFEWirral's statement about it in which they publicly showcase their anger, blaming and routinised gaslighting, and
@Ofsted
's last inspection.