In the news
News Archive
September 2009
No excuses for abuse that led to double death, says minister
September 2009
Politicians acknowledged widespread public anxiety over the kind of abuse that led to the death of a vulnerable single mother and her disabled daughter.
An inquest jury ruled on Monday that police and council officials were partly responsible for the deaths of Fiona Pilkington, and Francecca Hardwick, as they failed to properly respond to Pilkington's complaints about years of abuse by local youngsters, much of it motivated by her children's disability.
Peter Walker, The Guardian, Tuesday September 29th 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/sep/29/inquest-disability-antisocial-behaviour
Special needs system shake-up to improve support of pupils
September 2009
Ed Balls, the schools secretary, will today announce new measures to provide better support for disabled children and pupils with special educational needs.
The proposals will aim to make the process of assessing a child's needs easier and more independent, responding to complaints from parents that getting extra help for their children is often a difficult and protracted battle.
Alexander Topping, The Guardian, Monday September 28th 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/sep/28/schools-special-needs-assessment-balls
Jury criticises police and council over death of Fiona Pilkington and daughter
September 2009
A mother who killed her disabled daughter and then herself after suffering years of harassment from local youths was partly driven to do so because the police did not heed her pleas for help, an inquest jury found today.
The jury at the inquest of Fiona Pilkington, 38, and her 18-year-old daughter, Francecca Hardwick, also criticised a failure to share information between the police and the local council as one of the reasons why they did not respond to the calls for help.
Peter Walker and Sam Jones, The Guardian, Monday September 28th 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/28/pilkington-inquest-ruling
Pilkington case may be a Lawrence moment for disability hate crime
September 2009
Campaigners hope the case will be a turning point, like the Stephen Lawrence murder was for the policing of racist crime. There are few concrete statistics on the level of hate crime against the 1.2m people in Britain with a learning disability. In a survey by the charity Mencap, nine out of ten said they had been bullied in the past year. Two-thirds of those questioned said they were bullied on a regular basis, and a third told of being bullied daily or weekly.
Rachel Williams, The Guardian, Monday September 28th 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/28/fiona-pilkington-inquest-disability-hate
Councils, not police, deal with antisocial behaviour, superintendent says
September 2009
Most people do not realise that it is councils rather than the police who are primarily responsible for tackling antisocial behaviour, a senior police officer told an inquest yesterday.
Superintendent Steve Harrod, head of criminal justice at Leicestershire police, was speaking at the inquest into the deaths of a mother and her disabled daughter who had been tormented by local youths.
Harrod said officers got "frustrated" with a judicial system which generally gives young troublemakers reprimands and behaviour orders rather than putting them through the courts.
Peter Walker, guardian.co.uk, Saturday September 26th 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/sep/26/police-frustration-pilkington-inquest
One in 100 adults has autism, but what is it?
September 2009
Mozart, Orwell, Einstein, Beethoven and Newton all had it, and now new research funded by the Department of Health shows that one in every 100 adults has it too – autism that is.
Autism is much discussed but less well understood. Those with the disorder are sometimes mistakenly believed to be naughty, disruptive, antisocial, rude or just weird. In reality they have a developmental disability with uncertain origins that has no cure, with symptoms they can do little, if anything, to control. While some autistic people live fairly independent lives, others need constant specialist help. However, all those with autism have difficulty with three things, says the National Autistic Society (NAS).
Denise Campbell, The Guardian, Thursday September 24th 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/24/adults-autism
'Friends meets Skins' with a difference
September 2009
Introducing The Specials, a docusoap about five housemates who live the classic student life in Brighton. If that sounds like any other predictable teen reality television show, this is a series with a difference: all five housemates have learning disabilities.
The series, which launches online today, follows Lucy, Lewis, Sam, Megan and Hilly. Aged between 19 and 23, they have been friends since childhood. Four of them have Down's syndrome and one has Williams syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by unusual language skills.
Shibani Mahtani, The Guardian, Wednesday September 2nd 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/sep/02/the-specials-docusoap-learning-disability
Home truths - People in residential care need a new set of rights, says Rob Greig
September 2009
Residential care providers complain about an implicit bias against them from policy makers and social care commissioners, and the development of personal budgets has reinforced this belief.
When people controlled their social care funding in the early pilots, most used this to move from residential care to ordinary tenancies. The conclusion is that residential care is now a less preferred option for those needing long-term housing and support.
Society Guardian, Wednesday September 2nd 2009
