Member News
3rd June 2011
The last two weeks have been dominated by two high-profile stories which shone a harsh spotlight on the poor treatment of many people with learning disabilities in our society, writes Jaime Gill, head of press and public affairs for United Response.
Of two shocking recent stories about Britain's care services, perhaps the most prominent was Tuesday's Panorama documentary into the abuse of people with learning disabilities in a secure institution in Bristol. As well as getting headline coverage across all the major media, the documentary has had a huge impact on the general public: thousands have flooded online forums to register their condemnation. Many were horrified that these vulnerable people were being abused by the very people who were supposed to support and care for them.
A week before Panorama, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) published its long-awaited report into the death of Fiona Pilkington and her severely disabled daughter, Francecca. Mrs Pilkington and her daughter had suffered years of abuse at the hands of a local gang. She complained to the police 33 times, but – as the IPCC found – the matter was simply not taken seriously enough. Finally, Mrs Pilkington resorted to killing herself and her daughter to escape a life which had become hellish.
If the Panorama documentary exposed what abuse can happen behind closed doors when a system of care has totally broken down, the Pilkington case showed what abuse can happen in public without anyone stepping in to stop it.
Thankfully, the individuals in the Panorama documentary will now, we are assured, be moved into better circumstances and, we hope, move forward with their lives and put their horrendous past behind them. Sadly, it is now too late to do anything to save Fiona and Francecca. But what we can do is remember their stories and ensure that we all learn the correct lessons from them.
The first lesson is that institutional care can cause incalculable harm to the lives of people with learning disabilities. We know from experience that people with disabilities – including those with complex and challenging behaviours – can live in ordinary, community-based settings, when they are supported by dedicated, well-trained and well-managed staff.
The second lesson is to recognise that the verbal and physical abuse of people with disabilities still lingers in our society. The police are now more likely to attempt to tackle these crimes: earlier this year, Keir Starmer, QC, director of public prosecutions, demanded that disability-targeted harassment be taken more seriously by police. But the broader problem won't be addressed until everybody in society recognises the bullying of people with disabilities for the unacceptable ugliness that it is, and opposes it.
Everyone must remember these lessons, including the government, local authorities, the NHS, regulators, service providers and the general public. If the country simply moves on to the next news story without doing something to tackle the underlying causes of the mistreatment of people with disabilities, then it will be another tragedy to add to the list.
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