Campaigning for Change - Joint Briefings

ARC England, the Autism Alliance, the British Association of Social Workers (BASW England), the Challenging Behaviour Foundation, Learning Disability England, the Learning Disability Professional Senate, Mencap, the National Autistic Society, Rightful Lives, the Voluntary Organisations Disability Group (VODG), and VoiceAbility have come together to jointly produce briefing papers to continue to campaign for human rights of people with a learning disability and autistic people. These briefing papers will be shared with Government officials, MPs and ministers, and other stakeholders to urge immediate and concurrent action on developing robust community support and services and reforming the Mental Health Act.

Background

In 2011, Panorama uncovered and exposed abuse at Winterbourne View Hospital, highlighting the human rights abuses of people with a learning disability. This scandal exposed the lack of investment in the right community support for autistic people and people with a learning disability, including the right education, social care, mental health care and suitable housing, resulting in people ending up inappropriately in Mental Health Units, at human and financial cost. The multiple missed targets for the resulting ‘Transforming Care’ programme and the ‘Building the Right Support’ plan reflect ongoing systemic failures, lack of leadership and the need for immediate action.

Many children and adults with a learning disability and autistic people continue to face significant inequalities and poor quality of life. This systemic issue requires a dedicated and resourced cross-government approach to ensure effective community support and prevention of inappropriate detentions.

The following briefing papers, co-produced by this range of organisations and groups with shared goals and outcomes, outline the issues in policy and practice and identify solutions to change. There is an opportunity to draw on the knowledge, experience and expertise from a range of stakeholders, including this group and others, to address these systemic issues. The work on the Co-Produced Action Plan is part of the solution.