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c omm ENT
commENT
Join us at Be Free: ISSN 0951-9815 These units provide neither

mud, rain and shine! Volume 29, No. 4, Summer 2016 ‘assessment nor ‘treatment’ –
published by:
C.L. Initiatives Ltd they should be renamed prisons
Be Free is a magical experience of No. 6 The Square eading the stories of young people kept in Assessment and Treatment
Waterhouse Green
en Blackwell, discovery and adventure for people with Whittle-le-Woods, Chorley r Units featured in the ‘7 days of action’ campaign, one thing stands out.
Lancashire PR6 7LF
Ja 33 year old woman with learning disabilities, their families, friends Tel. 0125 727 0430 Most were admitted without the family being aware of the nature of the institution
Down’s syndrome, has won a their child was entering.
and support workers. People can chill out
prestigious award for her work as company director Subscription enquiries:
or try the adrenaline rush of adventure
and trustee of her charity DanceSyndrome in the face Rosemary Trustam Take Eden Norris for example. Eden has been in ATUs for the last seven years.
of competition from business women across the Jen is pictured third from left Tel. 0125 727 0430 He was admitted first aged 17 to an adult medium forensic unit. The family didn’t
Jen is pictured third from left
challenges – like the zip wire or 3G swing.
North West region. Dancer Jen won the Enterprise surrounded by her family and rosecli@btinternet.com realise until after he had gone there what sort of unit it was. Eden had no criminal
surrounded by her family and
Vision Award of ‘Inspirational Woman’ which colleagues from DanceSyndrome. C.L. Initiatives Ltd history – yet he remained there for 5 years and 4 months until he was admitted to
colleagues from DanceSyndrome.
(address as above)
Michelle, a manager, sent seven people with learning disabilities and eight
attracts sponsors for some 16 awards billed as a second unit in January 2015 many miles away from home. Eighteen year old
‘The North-West’s Premier Ladies Awards’. Editor Tianze who has autism, learning disabilities and sometimes behaviour problems,
staff to the last Be Free festival. She reports: “It was amazing to hear
what a profound experience they had in a really short time and how much Elinor Harbridge was moved from his home in Fife, Scotland to a hospital in Middlesbrough, over
There were five finalists in each category Jen’s poise and confidence in speaking 2 St Georges Close, Dunster,
good they have taken away from it. Roll on Be Free!”
out of all the entrants and Jen reached as she accepted the award is a tribute Minehead TA24 6SS 200 miles away, for what was supposed to be a six-week assessment. Two years
the finals in two, her win being due to to what happens when people can elinorharbridge@btinternet.com later he is still there. As in Tianze’s case, most of the young people featured in
votes and the judges’ decision. follow their dreams. (Take note tearful 01643 822513 the campaign were sent to units many miles from home making it very difficult for
When? 5pm on 13th September to 12pm on 15th September 2016
Mob.0789 9058 933
tongue-tied Oscar winners!)
Where? Gilwell Park Scout Activity Centre, Chingford, London E4 7QW families to maintain regular contact.
When Jen’s award was
(25 mins by train from Liverpool Street in London) Social media Editor The other feature of these stories is that the behaviour of the young person always
To more applause she acknowledged the support she
announced her family,
Rosemary Trustam
How much? A 3 day pass is £185 +VAT. Wednesday pass is £50 +VAT @CommLivingmag deteriorates in these units, providing the managers with justification for keeping
had from ‘those on Table 14’ which included her
colleagues and friends on table
14 erupted into enthusiastic support worker Naomi Bedford, Donna Harrison a Facebook: /www.facebook.com/ them there indefinitely.
applause accompanied by a co-dance leader, Sarah Kennedy who helped in the CommunityLivingMagazine
Further details from:
standing ovation from the early days including being chairman of the company, Sam Sly, in her excellent article on page 6 of this issue, sets out in clear
http://www.paradigm-uk.org/events-training/free-festival/
audience assembled in the Dawn Vickers MD, co-dancer Peter Pamphlett and her Arts correspondent unarguable terms why ATUs just don’t work. As she points out, when people are
Email: loreb@paradigm-uk-org Tel. 020 870 8643
Winter Gardens Blackpool. parents Malcolm and Sue Blackwell. Simon Jarrett in an institution they quickly become institutionalised, as do the staff. When staff
research work in institutions they find it hard to see any other way of supporting someone
Julie Ridley, Reader in Social Policy especially as the person is reacting to the environment and is seen only through
& Practice, UCLan
the prism of a medical model. The only beneficiaries are the privately run ATUs
photographer who make an enormous amount of money from retaining people as long as
Belinda Schwehr, LLM Seán Kelly possible. It’s high time they were acknowledged for what they are – prisons
where inmates have lost all their human rights.
www.seankellyphotos.com
Elinor Harbridge
Trainer & Consultant in Care consultant Editors
Gill Levy, Sally Warren, MD, Paradigm
and Health Law legal correspondent What can we learn from Josiah Wedgwood?
Bespoke and Regional Courses Belinda Schwehr, LLM osiah Wedgwood was the only MP to argue against the Mental Deficiency Act
Legal Framework Trainer & Consultant
Care and Health Law J of 1913 which set up a system of unprecedented social and medical control
Webinars belinda@careandhealthlaw.com for those deemed to be ‘mentally deficient’ (see The lone libertarian –
Legal Framework Consultancy publisher Josiah Wedgwood and the Mental Deficiency Act 1913, page19). Wedgwood
had no apparent experience of, or even interest in, deficiency himself. For him
Rosemary Trustam
rosemarytrustam@btinternet.com this was a matter of individual liberty. In our modern terminology he was not a
disability activist, or advocate, but a human rights campaigner. For him every
Subjects covered: Personalisation; Reviews and Cuts; Editorial board person was a citizen, and as such was entitled to the protections and liberties that
Mental Capacity and DoLS; Safeguarding and Regulation; Jo Clare, CEO, Three Cs all citizens enjoyed. Such liberty was not something that could just be handed
Noelle Blackman, CEO, Respond
Contracting and Commissioning for Personalisation; Tony Bamforth CEO, The Elfrida Society over to unaccountable members of the medical profession who would control the
Direct Payments and Money Management for People David Naden, CEO, Linkability lives and actions of the deficient until the day they died.
Sue Pemberton, CEO, Integrate Ltd
with Impairments; Continuing NHS Health Funding and Jane Lloyd & Debbie Forde, Senior Lecturers We live today in a much more professionalised world and we unconsciously
Mental Health Consultancy and advice. School of Social Work, UCLan accept professional and state authority far more readily than Wedgwood was
Beth Tarleton, Senior Research Fellow
Norah Fry Centre for Disability Studies prepared to do in 1913. The Winterbourne View abuse, and other cases,
Contact Belinda on: 07974 399361 Email: belinda@careandhealthlaw.com Sally Warren, MD, Paradigm have been seen more as the failure of professional care systems, or the provision
of the wrong type of care, than as the horrendous human rights abuses that they
Rosemary Trustam, Gill Levy,
Training reservations:Debbie Tel: 01252 494098 Elinor Harbridge were. By being in a care system, the Winterbourne View residents were already
Email: debbie@careandhealthlaw.com Designed and printed by Character seen as denizens of a different moral universe to the rest of us. For Wedgwood it
would have been simpler – these were citizens, brutalised at the state’s expense,
Graphics, Taunton, tel. 01823 279008
because the state deemed them people who existed outside the usual system of
www.careandhealthlaw.com © C.L. Initiatives Ltd 2016 legal protection and personal liberty that citizenship should confer.
Registered Charity No. 1141176
Go to Hot News to select topics for free email updates! Simon Jarrett
www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vo l 29 No 4 | Summer 2016 1
www.cl-initiatives.co.uk
Community Living Vol 29 No 4 | Summer 2016 1