People with learning difficulties have been treated unfairly for hundreds of years here in the UK. The government should take responsibility for its part in this discrimination.
As leaders of one of the largest organisations run by people with learning difficulties we think it’s time for the government to apologise for what has happened to people with learning difficulties.
We think it is also important for the government to take a lot more action to stop this discrimination continuing today and in the future.
People with learning difficulties who went before us and all those living today have experienced a lifetime of being discriminated against.
We are probably the most excluded people in our society. We don’t have much money, we don’t have employment and we didn’t get a good education. Many of us have been kept in long-stay hospitals for long periods of time.
The last people with learning difficulties will soon move out of these hospitals. But that doesn’t mean that we can forget all the things that happened to us in the past.
We were given horrible labels such as mentally handicapped or mentally subnormal. We were told we had challenging behaviour if we didn’t like what was happening to us.
Many of us have experienced or continue to be abused; we were and are not given the support to protect us from people who physically or emotionally abuse us.
We were often rejected by our families because we were seen to be different to other people. We were sent to institutions that were a long way from our families, friends and community.
Others were made to go special schools or use services that were also a long way from our homes.
We don’t get away for holidays like other people. We don’t have the same choices of housing as other people. We have to live in residential homes or houses that are almost always owned by other people or organisations. This means that we have to wait for our repairs to be done. The work on our houses is always done to other people’s standards.
Many of us live in residential homes which are very hard to move out of. We have to live
the way that other people want us to live, but it is our life, not their life.
While change is outlined in the Valuing People White Paper and things have been getting better with the Disability Discrimination Act, it doesn’t undo what has happened in
the past. We want the same respect and to have the same opportunities that other
people have.
The first step in getting this respect and to start getting the things that other people have in life is for the government to apologise for the abuse and discrimination that has happened to us in the past.
It is also important for the government to take a lot more action to stop this discrimination continuing today and in the future.
We want the government to pledge to do this immediately. People with learning difficulties should witness the government making the pledge to take the essential action to change things. It should be a pledge signed by both the government and people with learning difficulties.
People with learning difficulties have been treated unfairly for hundreds of years here in the UK. The government should take responsibility for its part in this discrimination.
As leaders of one of the largest organisations run by people with learning difficulties we think it’s time for the government to apologise for what has happened to people with learning difficulties.
We think it is also important for the government to take a lot more action to stop this discrimination continuing today and in the future.
People with learning difficulties who went before us and all those living today have experienced a lifetime of being discriminated against.
We are probably the most excluded people in our society. We don’t have much money, we don’t have employment and we didn’t get a good education. Many of us have been kept in long-stay hospitals for long periods of time.
The last people with learning difficulties will soon move out of these hospitals. But that doesn’t mean that we can forget all the things that happened to us in the past.
We were given horrible labels such as mentally handicapped or mentally subnormal. We were told we had challenging behaviour if we didn’t like what was happening to us.
Many of us have experienced or continue to be abused; we were and are not given the support to protect us from people who physically or emotionally abuse us.
We were often rejected by our families because we were seen to be different to other people. We were sent to institutions that were a long way from our families, friends and community.
Others were made to go special schools or use services that were also a long way from our homes.
We don’t get away for holidays like other people. We don’t have the same choices of housing as other people. We have to live in residential homes or houses that are almost always owned by other people or organisations. This means that we have to wait for our repairs to be done. The work on our houses is always done to other people’s standards.
Many of us live in residential homes which are very hard to move out of. We have to live
the way that other people want us to live, but it is our life, not their life.
While change is outlined in the Valuing People White Paper and things have been getting better with the Disability Discrimination Act, it doesn’t undo what has happened in
the past. We want the same respect and to have the same opportunities that other
people have.
The first step in getting this respect and to start getting the things that other people have in life is for the government to apologise for the abuse and discrimination that has happened to us in the past.
It is also important for the government to take a lot more action to stop this discrimination continuing today and in the future.
We want the government to pledge to do this immediately. People with learning difficulties should witness the government making the pledge to take the essential action to change things. It should be a pledge signed by both the government and people with learning difficulties.