This article comes from Dr. Sheila Hollins and has been published in The Guardian. It begins:
“When people like my son go into crisis there is a high chance they won’t be supported at home – not because they can’t be helped to live full, valuable and meaningful lives in their communities, but because our “system” doesn’t allow for it. Instead, they may be removed and taken, sometimes miles away, to an unfamiliar inpatient setting designed to treat mental illness, even though many are not mentally ill and do not need to be in hospital.
There are currently more than 2,000 people with learning disabilities and autistic children and adults in such settings in England and Wales. These often noisy and sensory-driven environments exacerbate the more troubling features of autism, instead of providing the routine, structure and predictability that autistic people need. It is little wonder that autistic people struggle to regulate themselves and fail to thrive in these places. Many get stuck, with the average length of stay for current inpatients being five and a half years, albeit skewed upwards by some long forensic detentions (those subject to legal or court proceedings) …”
You can read more from here.
