Will learning disabled get equal access to critical care?

The charity Mencap is concerned about the latest NICE guidelines that have been put in place to deal with the extra demand for critical care due to coronavirus.

"These are unprecedented times and our NHS is under extreme pressure. But people with a learning disability and their families are deeply troubled that the latest NICE guidance for NHS intensive care doctors could result in patients with a learning disability not getting equal access to critical care and potentially dying avoidably."

"These guidelines suggest that those who can’t do everyday tasks like cooking, managing money and personal care independently – all things that people with a learning disability often need support with – might not get intensive care treatment. That’s why we urge NICE to include specific guidance on learning disability to make it clear that healthcare professionals should not judge patients on their cognitive ability when making life or death decisions. "

The benefits of a peer group

Research shows that autistic individuals may derive benefit from being part of a group with other autistic people. This does raise questions about the popular policy of `inclusivity within education establishments.` How may a minority group be successfully integrated into a larger, more typical group?

=============================

"The results align with previous research on the challenges that autistic people face when interacting with non-autistic others, but highlight that interactions with other autistic people are fundamentally different. All participants reported that spending time with non-autistic family and friends involved specific difficulties, which were not experienced when interacting with other autistic friends and family. This aligns with the double-empathy theory of autism which suggests that autistic and non-autistic people have a mutual difficulty in understanding and empathising with one another due to differences in how each person understands and experiences the world, rather than because of a communicative deficit on the part of the autistic person (Milton, 2012). Neurotypical people have been shown to overestimate how ego-centric their autistic family members are (Heasman & Gillespie, 2018), and overestimate how helpful they are to autistic people (Heasman & Gillespie, 2019). Our findings suggest that this translates into real-world difficulties in interactions with neurotypical friends and family that may affect the mental health, well-being and self-esteem of autistic people."

"One example of how interacting with non-autistic peers could have a negative impact was that it made them more acutely aware of their own minority status within a majority neurotypical society. Having to adapt to neurotypical ways of interacting and socialising caused feelings of inadequacy and shame. Similar findings have been described by Humphrey and Lewis (2008), who found that autistic adolescents surrounded by neurotypical pupils in mainstream secondary schools experienced negative self-image relating to autism. After time spent with majority neurotypical peers, autistic pupils often characterised their differences negatively, believing they had a ‘bad brain’ and wanted to ‘fit in’ with their peers (Humphrey & Lewis, 2008)."

Conclusion...

"These results suggest that spending time with other autistic people and within autistic spaces may be beneficial to the mental health of autistic people. In the context of calls for better mental health interventions (Cusack & Sterry, 2016), it is important to develop evidence-based, feasible and acceptable models of autistic peer support and evaluate these for potential mental health benefits. These findings may also be helpful for autistic people in environments in which they are a social minority, such as in education and employment, by enhancing understanding of autistic communication. We hope that a greater understanding of the contexts in which autistic people can have comfortable, natural and easy social interactions will contribute to an evidence base that service providers can draw on to develop better healthcare and education for autistic people."

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1362361320908976

Greta signs up for a BBC series

"Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is getting her own TV series about the environment."

"The 17-year-old has signed up to take part in the programmes which will follow her journey around the world as she campaigns against climate change, and finds out more about what can be done about it."

"The series will also document her personal journey as she deals with growing up in the spotlight, as well as other challenges such as writing speeches and meeting world leaders." 

"The series is being made by BBC Studios' Science Unit, but there are no details yet on when or where we might be able to see it. 
Rob Liddell who is the Executive Producer for BBC Studios said:"

"Climate change is probably the most important issue of our lives so it feels timely to make an authoritative series that explores the facts and science behind this complex subject." 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/51456549

====================

Rob Liddell from the BBC appears in the background towards the end of the video. He had followed Greta and her family to Canada.

It should be noted that the presenter in the video refers to Greta Thunberg as having a mental illness. Although depression and eating disorders may be classified as mental illnesses [from which Greta seems to have recovered] there are many in the neurodiversity movement who would object to those on the autistic spectrum being classified this way.

System detains young people inappropriately

"Evidence to the inquiry into the detention of young people with learning disabilities and/or autism was so `stark` and consistent that the Committee says it has `lost confidence that the system is doing what it says it is doing and the regulator's method of checking is not working. It has been left to the media, notably the BBC and Ian Birrell in the Mail on Sunday, to expose abuse. No-one thinks this is acceptable.` In relation to the Care Quality Commission, the Committee finds that `a regulator which gets it wrong is worse than no regulator at all`... "

"The Committee describes the `grim`, predictable pathway to inappropriate detention in these potentially `brutal` circumstances: Early family concerns raised with the GP or school lead to lengthy waits for assessment and diagnosis while the family struggles on alone, trying to cope. Then some trigger – a home move, a parent falling ill – unsettles the young person and their condition deteriorates. Professionals meet to discuss what should happen, but parents are not included. The child is taken away from their home and the familiarity and routine so essential to them, often many miles away and placed with strangers. Desperately concerned parents are treated as hostile and as a problem."

"Under these conditions, the young person unsurprisingly gets worse and is then put through physical restraint and solitary confinement - which the institution calls `seclusion`. As the child gets even worse so plans to return home are shelved. The days turn into weeks, then months and in some cases even years..."

Go to https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/human-rights-committee/news-parliament-2017/detention-learning-disabilities-autism-young-people-report-published-19-20/?fbclid=IwAR2FhTgIij2ItHiL4v6SBgBFzQWyfFavwMm_w3mSCiFxjKLbus8wRk49SdE

　

https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news

Mounting injustice against developers of GcMAF

The Persecution of David Noakes and Lyn Thyer continues.

 

"Lyn is defined as a terrorist in France for curing cancer. She’s not been charged with any crime, and is rotting in a French jail. She won’t live much longer. French prisons are the worst in Europe. The MHRA has seized the money from David Noakes and his wife. Their money goes to the judge, the prosecution and the Police..."


"David is now facing extradition... "

http://tapnewswire.com/2019/10/lyn-thyer-on-hunger-strike-for-two-months-in-french-jail-attempts-suicide-live/


See: Promising role for Gc-MAF in cancer immunotherapy: from bench to bedside [link below] and other academic reports on Google Scholar which substantiate David`s claims about this human protein.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5686300/

Keeping children safe

Sailing for the climate

========================================

An alternative view:

"Greta Thunberg is just an ordinary 16-year-old Swedish schoolgirl whose fiery visions have convinced the parliaments of Britain and Ireland to declare a `climate emergency`. Greta’s parents, actor Svante Thunberg and opera singer Malena Ernman, are just an ordinary pair of parent-managers who want to save the planet. Query their motives, and you risk being accused of `climate denial`, or of bullying a vulnerable child with Asperger’s. But the Greta phenomenon has also involved green lobbyists, PR hustlers, eco-academics, and a think-tank founded by a wealthy ex-minister in Sweden’s Social Democratic government with links to the country’s energy companies. These companies are preparing for the biggest bonanza of government contracts in history: the greening of the Western economies...¬

¬Whatever Greta or her parents know or think, her eco-mob increases the likelihood of legislation and investment that will make colossal profits for people like Global Challenge, We Don’t Have Time and Sustainable Energy Angels. For Sweden’s energy titans, saving the planet means government contracts to print the green stuff. Green energy lobbyists use populist scare tactics and a children’s crusade to bypass elected representatives, but their goal is technocracy not democracy, profit not redistribution. Greta, a child of woke capitalism, is being used to ease the transition to green corporatism."

https://standpointmag.co.uk/issues/june-2019/gretas-very-corporate-childrens-crusade/#

A more hard hitting view:https://www.bitchute.com/video/qpSQuc69R9c/

Vulnerable are locked away for years

"They're supposed to be a place of comfort and security - where vulnerable people can stay for a short time, to keep them and others safe."

"But today, a week-long protest has begun into NHS Assessment and Treatment Units, or ATUs, over serious concerns about patient care."

"Campaigners say children with learning disabilities and autism are being locked away for years, far away from their families, in distressing conditions."

Psychological torture in specialist hospital

"The abuse and mistreatment of vulnerable adults at a specialist hospital has been uncovered by the BBC's Panorama programme."

"Undercover BBC filming shows staff intimidating, mocking and restraining patients with learning disabilities and autism at Whorlton Hall, County Durham."

"Experts said the culture was deviant at the privately-run NHS-funded unit with evidence of `psychological torture`."

"A police investigation has been launched and 16 staff suspended."

"The 17-bed hospital is one of scores of such units in England that provide care for just below 2,300 adults with learning disabilities and autism."

"Many are detained under the Mental Health Act."

"Glynis Murphy, professor of clinical psychology and disability at Kent University's Tizard Centre, said much of what Panorama had found was the `absolute antithesis` of good care."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-48367071?fbclid=IwAR2c6uhHcdENpqxGEkjB9YBYi9xMVgNJDc-EngcKdGGozesKZz2NdEMl84U

The Thunberg family

"Teenage activist Greta Thunberg's mother has hit back at suggestions that she is secretly masterminding her schoolgirl phenomenon daughter's global climate change campaign..."

"Malena, 48, is a classically trained opera singer who has performed in theatres across the world including Berlin, Vienna and Amsterdam, as well as her native Stockholm."

"She broke into pop music in 2009 when she represented Sweden in the Eurovision song contest in Moscow, with her song, La Voix [the voice]..."

"She married Swedish actor Svante Thunberg in 2004, shortly after the birth of their first child Greta."

"The family live in a sprawling apartment in a sought-after part of central Stockholm. The flat has views over one of the many rivers that pass through Sweden’s capital and is within walking distance of the country’s parliament..."

"Malena was forced to defend herself as speculation swirled in Sweden that Greta's campaign was stage-managed with a PR guru to promote a book that she has written about Greta's battle with Asperger's Syndrome."

Read More https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6962683/Mother-climate-activist-Greta-Thunberg-DENIES-masterminding-daughters-rise-fame.html

Piers Corbyn, someone you don`t see on the BBC, gives his alternative views about the cause of climate change.

More research required for vulnerable children

[From Ann Memmott`s blog]

"Currently, there is no evidence based practice for the treatment of trauma [for autistic individuals]".

"Those are words from a recent paper looking at ideas for how to help autistic children who have experienced traumatic events. The paper, by Slack and Lucyshyn (2018), can be found at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10803-018-3854-9 "

"I must admit that when I read this, I didn't know quite what to say."

"We know that autistic children experience high levels of bullying. We know that they are seen as a target by predators. We know that many show distress behaviour, and many express a wish to end their own lives."

"We know there is likely to be an autistic child in every classroom, from the most recent research into numbers of autistic individuals."

"But no-one knows how to help an autistic child who shows signs of trauma (for example Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder..."

Read More https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/complex-ptsd/#.XLlvvOhKjIU

Professor Tony Attwood explains some of the characteristics of those on the autism spectrum.

[Note: the term `aspergers` has fallen into disrepute although many believe it still has its uses.]

Inquest into death of teenager

"An inquest has opened into the death of a teenage boy at a children`s home on Hayling Island."

"Damian Szarch, 17, died on Wednesday, March 6 while at Poppy Lodge, in Church Road."

"Portsmouth Coroners` Court is preparing the inquest into the teenager`s death..."

"Speaking last week, a spokeswoman for Poppy Lodge said: `An active investigation is currently being conducted by Hampshire police and we are unable to comment at this time`..."

"Poppy Lodge is run by Hillcrest Children`s Services Ltd and provides care and accommodation for up to seven young men with complex difficulties."

"It is rated outstanding by Ofsted, who last inspected in September last year."

https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/inquest-opens-into-the-death-of-hayling-island-boy-17-who-died-at-a-children-s-home-1-8846283

Martin Barrow`s twitter feed can be found below:

https://twitter.com/MartinBarrow/status/1106229930118008833

Disabled children threatened with care

At BBC 5 Live below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00030dr

Poor science

"Disruptive behaviors in childhood are among the most prevalent and costly mental health problems in industrialized countries and are associated with significant negative long-term outcomes for individuals and society. Recent evidence suggests that disruptive behavioral problems in the first years of life are an important early predictor of lower employment earnings in adulthood. A new longitudinal study examined boys from low-income backgrounds to determine which behaviors in kindergarten are associated with earnings in adulthood. The study concluded that inattention was associated with lower earnings and prosocial behavior with higher earnings..."

"Identifying early childhood behavioral problems associated with economic success or failure is essential for developing targeted interventions that enhance economic prosperity through improved educational attainment and social integration," explains Daniel Nagin, professor of public policy and statistics at Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College, who coauthored the study..."

"Findings revealed that the teachers' ratings of boys' inattention -- characterized as poor concentration, distractibility, having one's head in the clouds, and lacking persistence -- were associated with lower earnings when the students were 35 to 36 years old."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190211164015.htm

However, in this study there were no controls for conditions like autism spectrum disorder which are known to affect concentration, attention and persistence and also to seriously affect job opportunities in later life.

This study is useless.

But it does help to target poor kids.

Inclusion in mainstream schools: another review

Only three years after the previous review of the education policy there are plans for another one.

A delaying tactic maybe ? To avoid providing much needed resources to schools?



"The proposal to integrate children with additional support needs (ASN) into primary and secondary schools, rather than educating them separately in special schools, has the support of the United Nations on the grounds it is the right of every child to be educated in their local community regardless of physical disabilities, learning difficulties or social, emotional or behavioural problems."

Vulnerable children are being tricked by the transgender agenda

"An astonishing 17 pupils at a single British school are in the process of changing gender, The Mail on Sunday can reveal."

"Most of the youngsters undergoing the transformation are autistic, according to a teacher there, who said vulnerable children with mental health problems were being ‘tricked’ into believing they are the wrong sex."

"The whistleblower says few of the transgender children are suffering from gender dysphoria – the medical term for someone who feels they were born in the wrong body – but are just easily influenced, latching on to the mistaken belief they are the wrong sex as a way of coping with the problems caused by autism."

"Earlier this year, The Mail on Sunday revealed that a third of youngsters referred to the NHS’s only gender identity clinic for children showed ‘moderate to severe autistic traits’..."

 

 "She was advised to keep parents and other teachers in the dark if a pupil claimed to be transgender..."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6401593/Whistleblower-teacher-makes-shocking-claim-autistic.html

The neglect of the learning disabled

 

Nothing changes.

Here`s Paul Kelso, health correspondent, Sky News:

"At least 40 people with a profound learning disability or autism have died while admitted to `barbaric` secure hospitals the government has promised to close since 2015, a Sky News investigation has found."

"The deceased, nine of whom were under-35 when they died, were being held as in-patients in assessment and treatment units (ATUs), controversial hospitals considered inappropriate for some of the most vulnerable people in society..."

"Figures show the total fell by 80 people in three years, from 2,395 in March 2015 to 2,315 in September this year, while the number of children has increased, from 110 in March 2015 to 230 in September."

"Latest figures show 60% of patients in ATUs have been admitted for more than two years and 16% for more than a decade."

"Figures released to Sky News under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that reported uses of restraint, categorised as including the use of medication, seclusion of patients, and physical restraint including face-down `prone restraint`, have soared in the last two years..."

"Sir Stephen Bubb says money should move from the NHS to the social care pot."

"`There are deaths of people in these institutions, some of them unexplained. We know there are significant problems and there will be at some stage another scandal, and yet we know what we need to do`."

"`The idea that in the 21st century you lock people up, you restrain them, you use prone restraint, you hold them down, I think is disgusting, it is barbaric and it is unacceptable, and it needs to be made unlawful`."

https://news.sky.com/story/40-people-died-in-barbaric-secure-hospitals-the-government-pledged-would-close-11540038

Innocent young people imprisoned in institutions

by Ian Birrell

"Imagine that it was your son, your daughter, your sister, your brother. Taken away by the state against their will to be locked in an institution hours from home. Forced to take drugs they do not need, turning them catatonic, unable to stop dribbling – and if they resist, held down by six guards, stripped and injected with strong sedatives. Stuffed in a tiny cell with just a mattress on the floor, fed through a hatch like a wild animal. Sometimes with no shower, no sink, no toilet paper – and always with no dignity."

"Your relative, of course, has rights as a citizen. Even if they carry out evil crimes, they are protected by rigorous laws. Yet such actions are being inflicted on innocent young people with autism and learning disabilities. They are being handcuffed, bruised, restrained face down by teams of adults, even having their spectacles removed. They must obey orders to access books, television, even fresh air. Some slump into depression and shed weight, others swell up through over-eating. Yet if families protest, they can be legally removed as protectors and publicly silenced with court orders that threaten to seize all assets." 

"These stories sound Dickensian. They remind us of pitiful footage from foreign orphanages or places where people with mental illness are chained to trees. Yet this is happening right here in our country. It is happening right now in secretive psychiatric institutions – both private and state-owned. These practices are a flagrant denial of the most basic human rights for British citizens – but they are permitted by politicians, sanctioned by doctors and funded at huge expense by taxpayers."

Read more at: https://inews.co.uk/opinion/the-care-system-remains-twisted-incarcerating-people-with-learning-disabilities-is-inhumane/?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR0kyNxq22Evn4bU2XCV82gwDZ1FK-xU0Vu9VM2qGLQnlmcjhCV0MIFDmUI

Social care `deprives people of their liberty`

Mark Neary calling `a detention a spade`

"Time for some straight speaking. Time to `get our language back`. Time for some direct Steven Neary talking."

"Today, I heard of a young autistic man who has been held away from his home for over three years. The place is run by one of the leading private providers (Think little swans). He has just had a six monthly review (why only every six months?) and the decision makers decided that he needed to stay there for at least another six months. An all too familiar story. What was different to me was how the place was described in the paperwork. The man is `living in a safeguarding placement`. It reminded me of the story I received from a parent during the second 7 Days of Action campaign. Her son was under a DoLS in an assessment and treatment unit. Only it was described in the DoLS paperwork as `a risk managed home`."

"These are lies. This is fancy language designed to obscure the real purpose. Cloud the real truth. Like many people in assessment and treatment units neither of these two guys wanted to be there. Both were being kept there against their will and are not free to leave. They are detained."

"Social care has always had a problem with the term `deprivation of liberty`. I’ve heard lots of professionals complain about the `negative connotations`. True, the Safeguards bit is meant to protect people from unlawful detentions. But lawful or not, a detention is still a detention." 

https://markneary1dotcom1.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/lets-call-a-detention-a-spade/  

Mendip House has been closed down

Steven Morris

"People with autism living in a care home in Somerset were taunted, bullied and humiliated by staff, a review has found."

"Workers at the home run by the National Autistic Society threw objects at residents and teased and swore at them, the report from the Somerset Safeguarding Adults Board (SSAB) says."

"A whistleblower claimed one resident of Mendip House was slapped, forced to eat chillies and repeatedly thrown into a swimming pool."

"In another incident highlighted in the report, a staff member is said to have put a ribbon around a resident’s neck and ridden him `like a horse`. Concerns about a `laddish` culture were raised."

"When the home was investigated, inspectors found residents had been funding staff meals during outings and almost £10,000 had to be reimbursed..."

"Mendip House has been closed down and the residents, some of whom had lived there for many years, have been found new placements. Staff were disciplined and police investigated, but no criminal proceedings have been launched."

"The review draws parallels to the case of Winterbourne View, the private hospital near Bristol where people with severe learning difficulties were abused."

https://amp.theguardian.com/society/2018/feb/08/somerset-care-home-staff-bullied-autistic-residents-review-finds?__twitter_impression=true