This is a national scandal hidden in plain sight
Strong words from charity inbid to solve‘human rights emergency’
A Lanarkshire-based charity this week launched a campaign to unlock the right of hundreds of adults with learning disabilities to a home they choose in a community of their choice, close to the people they love.
As Scotland’s largest member-led charity, ENABLE Scotland is calling on society to address the “human rights scandal” facing people with learning disabilities.
ENABLE Scotland’s latest campaign, #MyOwnFrontDoor, is being led by the Eurocentral-based charity’s 12,000-strong membership and supporter network to address what it describes as a “level of discrimination that we do not expect and would not expect other people in our society to bear.”
Due to lack of support to live in their own communities close to their loved ones, official data reveals that over 1000 adults have been sent by Scottish local authorities to live ‘out-of-area,’ meaning not in their home local authority patch.
Beyond this, a further 67 people are living in hospital – and 22 per cent of these people have been there for more than a decade.
Despite highlighting this issue in a 2018 Scottish Government report, which recommended better specialist social care support to help these individuals to live in the community of their choice, there has been no monitoring of progress, and ENABLE Scotland fears that the
situation has deteriorated further.
The charity’s campaign is calling for urgent action to end hospital living for people with learning disabilities, and to put immediate plans in place to ensure that all people in delayed discharge or those who have been displaced ‘out-ofarea’ are supported to return to live in the home they choose and the community they choose, close to the people they love by 2023.
The charity already supports 6,000 people to live independently across Scotland, including some people who were previously living in hospital or other institutional settings for many years, or who have been fighting for their rights to
live closer to their families.
Launching the campaign, John Feehan, an adult who has a learning disability and who is an active member of ENABLE Scotland, said: “It can be so hard to speak up for yourself when you have a learning disability. It is even harder to make people listen. That is why I am speaking out.
“It makes me so angry that other people who have a learning disability are stuck in hospital, or being forced to live far away from their families. This has been going on for too long now.”
John continued: “Some people think that people who have a learning disability are not able to live in local communities like everyone else. They think that it is easier for them to be locked away in hospital, or to live with lots of other people who have a learning disability.
“That isn’t true. It is only because the right support is not there – it’s not the person’s fault.
“Anyone can live anywhere with the right support. If they don’t want to be where they are, people need help to get back to live close to their families or to get out of hospital – right now.”
ENABLE Scotland is the country’s leading charity for people who have a learning disability, with branches all over Scotland, including Airdrie, Bellshill, Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Newmains and Rutherglen.
Its director, Jan Savage, said: “This is a human rights emergency. It is a national scandal – hidden in plain sight. People who have a learning disability – brothers, sisters, sons and daughters – are being forced to live far from home, to ‘live’ in hospital, or to live in care settings where they are uncomfortable and unhappy.
“I am sure that people will be shocked to learn about the situation our fellow citizens find themselves in. But they should be reassured that better is possible.
“Clear and decisive action is now required to adopt a ‘Community First’ principle to end the practice of people being sent out-of-area, to nationally invest in high quality, consistent, specialist social care support to be available in every community, and to stop building new multi-bed units for people who have a learning disability. These are not the solution – they perpetuate the problem.”
Jan continued: “We cannot wait any longer. People who have learning disabilities are being subjected to a level of discrimination that we would not, and do not, expect other groups in our society to bear.
“We are determined that this campaign will start a movement for change as each and every one of us stand up for the human rights of all people with learning disabilities in 2022. The keys to unlocking their own front door are in our hands.”
Supporting the campaign is Radical Visions, which provides practical assistance to citizens, families, organisations and the wider society to promote and exercise the values of inclusion.
The organisation’s director, John Dalrymple, said: “Everything we know about the disastrous effects of segregation and exclusion and all the evidence we have about good social care practice argues for an immediate halt to the placement of people in institutions.
“Everything we say we believe about basic humanity, independent living and universal human rights compels us to support campaigns like #MyOwnFrontDoor.”
As part of this campaign, ENABLE Scotland is offering support and advice to any individual or family affected by this issue, and is asking members of the public to raise it directly with their local MSPs. To join the movement, act, share, speak up and get informed, visit www. enable.org.uk/myownfrontdoor.