Two recent articles in the i by the journalist Ian Birrell have left us here at Rescare angry, but to be honest not too surprised.
Please read them, since they highlight what is a national scandal and disgrace. Ian is clearly seething with rage, and we suspect and hope that he will not give up on this issue. It is a minor comfort to read that some politicians have heard his cries and taken up the issue.
Brace yourself, and read the following two article which appeared within two weeks of each other:
7th Oct 2018: A teen with autism is locked in solitary confinement and being fed through a hatch. Have we really moved on from Bedlam?
21st Oct 2018: Stephanie died because she was imprisoned for being disabled. Thousands of others are still locked away.
We hope this blog post contributes however slightly to highlighting the issue Ian Burrell raises.
(Further to recent posts and updates by Rescare on Learning Disability, Health and Obesity, may I just highlight a single paragraph from Ian’s second article: “Despite huge sums of public money spent to place her in a supposed safe space, her weight was allowed to soar. Staff said they tried to encourage her to eat well – yet one week, she ate nothing but ice cream. Stephanie was 13 stone when shut away. Seven years later, her weight had doubled – and she was dead. She died from heart failure and sleep apnoea caused by obesity.”