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COMMENT
COMMENT
n o ina li e
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olu e o. in e o live an ordinary life does not sound like an extreme or unreasonable demand.
TIndeed, it does not sound like a demand at all – it is what most people do.
u lis e However, for many people with learning disabilites it can appear an almost impossible
C.L. Initatves Ltd dream. In this issue we highlight how rights which for most people in the UK can
No. 6 The Square,
Waterhouse Green be taken for granted – such as the right to vote, get married, be a parent –
Whitle-le-Woods, Chorley are obstacle-strewn aspiratons for people with learning disabilites, which many of
Lancashire PR6 7LF them never achieve.
Tel. 0125 727 0430

u sc i ton en ui ies Professor Jan Walmsley, historian of learning disability and Community Living
Rosemary Trustam columnist, once wrote about how surprised she was to be asked to write a course,
Tel. 0125 727 0430 in the 1980s, about why people with ‘mental handicaps’ should be able to enjoy an
rosecli@btnternet.com ordinary life. To her, an outsider, it was obvious. But, she would learn later, it was not
C.L. Initatves Ltd obvious at all – because of the past. For well over a century now we have characterised
(address as above)
those we call people with learning disabilites as people who cannot choose,
i o who cannot express opinions, who cannot enjoy family life and who are not enttled to
Simon Jarret the same rights as others. However much work we do to fght these beliefs, they are
simonj@jarr.demon.co.uk
deeply rooted in society’s consciousness, sometmes within the very professions that
ocial e ia i o are meant to support people to live full lives.
Rosemary Trustam
Twiter: @CommLivingmag In this issue we show how, with the right support, people can marry, have children
Facebook: /www.facebook.com/ and live the lives they want to lead in the heart of their own communites.
CommunityLivingMagazine
But we also highlight the many barriers and obstacles that are placed in their way.
i i al a ketn onsul an Most shocking of all, in our powerful story about Mathew Garnet (pages 14-15),
Anna Roper writen by his mother Isabelle, we show how a person can have their whole life
anna@feldmouse.co stripped away and fnd themselves in a nightmarish world of clinical control,
drug treatment and statutory detenton, from which there can appear litle prospect of
esea c
Julie Ridley, escape. Mathew was one of the ‘lucky’ ones – he did get out, and is now building an
Reader in Social Policy & Practce, UCLan ordinary life – but as we know thousands are stll trapped in the world he found
himself in.
o o a e
Seán Kelly Our queston must always be, if it is ordinary for everybody else, then how can we
www.seankellyphotos.com
make it ordinary for people with learning disabilites? Professionals must stop fnding
e al o es on en imaginatve ways of preventng people from doing things, and instead fnd imaginatve
Belinda Schwehr, LLM ways to enable them to do things. It should not be such a difcult leap to move from
Legal Framework Trainer & Consultant the frst way of thinking to the second.
Care and Health Law
belinda@careandhealthlaw.com
iva e ie
u lis e
Rosemary Trustam
rosecli@btnternet.com No person will achieve an ordinary life if they are viewed as litle
more than a business asset.
i o ial oa
Jo Clare, CEO, Three Cs here is no one sector that can be guaranteed to provide the best services and
Noelle Blackman, CEO, Respond Tsupport for people with learning disabilites. There are good statutory,
Tony Bamforth CEO, The Elfrida Society voluntary and private support organisatons. We know also that poor services and
Jo Adshead, CEO, Linkability
Sue Pemberton, CEO, Integrate Ltd abuse have occurred in all three sectors. However, our artcle on the atracton of
Jane Lloyd & Debbie Forde, Senior the learning disability residental market to acquisitve, debt-laden private equity
Lecturers, School of Social Work, UCLan companies suggests that this part of the private sector should have no place in the
Beth Tarleton, Senior Research Fellow, provision of social or health care. As the artcle puts it, “Private equity does not think
Norah Fry Research Centre in 15 to 20-year cycles like the traditonal care home operator. It thinks in three to
Sally Warren, MD, Paradigm,
Rosemary Trustam, Gill Levy, fve-year cycles. Borrow a load of money, buy a business, take as much cash as
Gabby Machell, CEO, and Mandy Crowford, possible out while growing the business and then sell it to the next investor.
Adult Services Manager, Westminster Society, And repeat.” Loyalty is to the investor or shareholder, not to the person who should
Isabelle Garnet, be at the centre of the care. No person will achieve an ordinary life if they are viewed
Elinor Harbridge,
Simon Jarret as litle more than a business asset. i on a e
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