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exclusion for eternity

iSSN 0951-9815
Volume 31, No 4, summer 2018 hen exclusion starts, it doesn’t stop – even after you die. In this issue, Nigel

Published by Ingham’s powerful article (page 16) about the Calderstones Cemetery
CL Initiatives Ltd wscandal captures a malaise that runs far deeper than a row over a burial site.
No 6 The Square The remains of 1,200 women, men and children who once lived in Calderstones, a
Waterhouse Green
Whittle-le-Woods, Chorley former long-stay asylum in Lancashire, lie beneath a neglected, vandalised and
Lancashire PR6 7LF untended site. No memorial shows who lies there; no respect or care is paid to
Tel 0125 727 0430 their memory.
Subscription enquiries Now, in a final insult, developers wish to build a car park over their resting place.
Rosemary Trustam They were neglected in life – banished to the harsh, unchanging, grinding daily life of
Tel 0125 727 0430 the asylum, from which they never returned to the society into which they had been
rosecli@btinternet.com
CL Initiatives Ltd born. And now they are neglected in death – for a second time hidden from sight,
(address as above) excluded, ignored and forgotten.
However, just as alliances of people with learning disabilities, families and their
editor
Simon Jarrett supporters fought to end the cruelties of the long-stay hospital system, so a new
simonj@jarr.demon.co.uk alliance has formed to end this act of disrespect to the dead.
Production editor Ingham writes about the campaign in which he is involved, driven by former
Christy Lawrance residents, staff, families,
local residents and people
www.clcomms.com this vandalism and ensure a “
Social media editor with learning disabilities A society that excludes the
Rosemary Trustam more generally to prevent
t @CommLivingmag memory of people in death in
f www.facebook.com/ proper memorial to those
CommunityLivingMagazine the same way as it excluded them
who lived and died in
research Calderstones. in life is a society built on a lie
Julie Ridley At Community Living, we
Reader in social policy and practice, University the same. A society that excludes the memory of people in death in the same way as it ”
of Central Lancashire fully support the campaign
and urge our readers to do
Photographer
Seán Kelly
www.seankellyphotos.com excluded them in life is a society built on a lie.

cartoonist/illustrator having a good life – without professionals
Robin Meader
robinmeaderartist@gmail.com Once you are seen as a person who does not belong, your grip on any sort of foothold
in society quickly vanishes.
legal correspondent For many, it is difficult to imagine just how terrifying a prospect this is. You live in a
Belinda Schwehr LLM
Legal framework trainer and consultant society but you are not seen as part of it. People have rights – but you lack them
Care and Health Law because it is believed you cannot understand them. People are free within the law to
belinda@careandhealthlaw.com do as they wish – but not you, because you don’t know what you wish. Others have
Publisher jobs, their own homes, family life, social networks – whereas you live in a sort of
Rosemary Trustam clinical, bureaucratic netherworld where you always aspire to achieving these goals,
rosecli@btinternet.com and a small army of paid professionals are there to support you towards reaching them,
editorial Board but you never quite get there.
Jo Clare, CEO, Three Cs In this issue (page 27), our columnist Jan Walmsley discusses three events she has
Noelle Blackman, CEO, Respond attended this year where people with learning disabilities seemed to be free, in control
Tony Bamforth CEO, The Elfrida Society
Jo Adshead, CEO, Linkability and able to be themselves. They were an art installation, an immersive theatre
Sue Pemberton, CEO, Integrate Ltd production and a musical performance. What these events had in common was that
Jane Lloyd and Debbie Forde, senior lecturers, “there was not a psychiatrist, psychologist, antipsychotic drug or support worker in
School of Social Work, University of Central
Lancashire sight”, she writes.
Sally Warren, MD, Paradigm People are also getting the opportunity to be part of an ordinary family in their
Rosemary Trustam community thanks to the work of Shared Lives (page 10). Extraordinary work is also
Gill Levy
Gabby Machell, CEO, and Mandy Crowford, being done by Getta Life (page 19) to enable people to make friends outside the
adult services manager, Westminster Society “learning disability world” to which they have been consigned.
Isabelle Garnett In all these cases, a good life is one in which people are not continually risk assessed,
Simon Jarrett
clinically evaluated, controlled and “kept safe” by the professional army that seems to
Designed and printed by own them.
Character Graphics, Taunton, Of course support workers, social workers, psychologists and (sometimes)
Tel 01823 279008
psychiatrists are needed, and many do heroic work – but their job must be to make
© CL Initiatives Ltd 2018 people free to be in the world, not to put barriers around them.
Registered Charity No 1141176
Company No 7530680
Simon Jarrett
Editor

www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vol 31 No 4 | Summer 2018 3