My son lives in his own home with 24 hour 2:1 care. He current team have worked with him for a long time. The last people to join the team joined in 2022. They know him well - which when you are non-verbal is important. He receives housing benefit and which pays for his house via a housing association. His house was bought and paid for by the NHS which means it is highly suitable for him and his needs and is a very secure tenancy. He goes out every day and sees us when he wants - I have been to his house this morning. It’s 5 minutes from us.
Prior to this he lived in a care home. He had agency staff regularly who did not know him so could not communicate with him - this led to distressed behaviours. The company served him with 13 days notice so he ended up being booted out of his home and staff at the same time. He came to us for a bit but that meant his schools aged siblings (and family dog) had to move out. An emergency package was tried which lasted less than 24 hours and he was sent with 3 hours notice 8 hours from home to a hospital where he stayed for a year and a half (at a cost to the NHS of 12k a week - would be 15k a week now).
In The hospital he was regularly floor restrained by 5 people. His psychiatrist was pretty good so he escaped some or the shit that happens in those places but 3 people he was there with died and the hospital was closed by the CQC eventually.
Before being sent to the hospital he had never been away from me for more than 3 days. He had no idea he was even going. He got in the car expecting t to go to the local hospital - not an 8 hour drive. Some of his peers were transported in cages. I know someone who fed her son sweets through the bars of a cage at service stations. These are not psychopaths - they are people with learning disabilities who were no appropriately supported - often happening as they turned 18 and the support of school & respite etc fell away.
My don’t life now is unrecognisable from the days of restraint. He’s not been floor restrained since leaving hospital. Today he’ll go out this morning, come home for home made soup, maybe go out or chill at home witn his team and have another home this evening. He may pop over to ours to raid the fridge. Earlier this week he sat at a beach cafe and watched a storm for half an hour.
If he was moved to a care home I can guarantee that within a month he would be back in hospital at huge cost to the NHS and back to imprisonment for him.
If you think that chappy in the article will be able to carry on doing what he does - such as being a school governor - in a care home then i can tell you now that will stop within a week. There won’t be the staff. And there won’t be the continuity of care to have the interpreter in the staff team. That‘a the reality of care home life. This isn’t someone at the end of their life who does little except watch TV - this is an active involved man.
Disabled people have the same right to a life as everyone else.
I recommend googling Rightful Lives to see the reality of institutionalised care. Will link in next post.