ALLIANCE Live: Stuck in institutions with no hope for Coming Home
- Area of Work: The ALLIANCE
- Type: News Item
- Published: 17th November 2022
An expert panel discusses concerns over the Coming Home Implementation Report and what actions can be taken to achieve meaningful change.
A new ALLIANCE Live roundtable conversation has now been published. Focusing on the Coming Home Implementation Report, contributors to the discussion unpick the ways in which the report has let many disabled people and their families down.
The discussion is led by ALLIANCE Chief Officer, Sara Redmond with contributions from C-Change Chief Executive, Sam Smith, journalist and campaigner, Michael McEwan, disability activist, Jim Elderwood-Ward, and Ruth Hughes, mum to Gordon who has been kept in an institution for longer than he needs to be.
The panel touch on a range of themes throughout the conversation including housing, human rights, and learning from the past. Ruth provides a powerful account of the experiences she and her son currently face due to the failure of the government that this report represents.
“Really there is no going back because once what happened with Gordon, once he got into the system, the wrong decisions were made. The appropriate care wasn’t there. The appropriate placement for care, which led to him being where he is now. And it really has had a catastrophic effect.”
Sara goes on to ask the panel what action can be taken to reassure them that change is still possible. For Sam Smith that meant looking towards the creation of the National Care Service.
“If we can evidence that we can support this relatively small group of people well, you know, respecting and protecting their rights, actually looking at providing personalised support then surely that would give us all some confidence that when it comes to this bigger programme rollout that we can be hopeful.”
C-Change has submitted a letter to the Scottish Government outlining the various actions that can be taken to ensure meaningful change is achieved. An easy-read version of the submission is also available in the resources section below.
To watch the roundtable discussion in full visit the ALLIANCE YouTube channel (this link will take you away from our website).
To listen to the podcast go to ALLIANCE Live on Spotify or on Anchor.FM (this link will take you away from our website).
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