Ruth Hughes

#Oliverscampaign
This story should make all of us angry.
Thank you to @DanielHewitt for continuing to expose what too many try to hide, the abuse neglect & systemic failures faced by disabled people & their families
It’s happening in services we fund
Think about that

www.itv.com/news/2026-02...

#OliversCampaign
Over 2,000 autistic people & people with a learning disability are still INAPPROPRIATELY detained in mental health hospitals many for nearly 5 years
£534m a year is wasted on institutions instead of community care
Care at need, NOT crisis saves lives
@NHSE_WTE

This #ScotLDWeek, People First Scotland shines a light on those detained in hospitals - sometimes for decades simply because the right support and community housing doesn’t exist.

Read the full blog here: zurl.co/vSw9R
#ScotLDWeek25 #IAmHereScotland

It’s Carers Awareness week and my timelines are full of friends sharing their stories of being a carer, hoping that this year’s hashtag will make a difference, whilst knowing it probably won’t. This year, I’d like to tell you the difference carers make to me. I know through being one myself that we are often unseen but what we do see is each other. This is a journey only we know and we share experiences of love, frustration, heartbreak, exhaustion, empathy and the constant fight for inclusion, access and acceptance – not to mention basic human rights. Many of my friends are carers, as well as the wonderful paid carers that support Brody, and I would be lost without them. Carers support carers. We look out for each other. We are there for each another. We get each other. We fight for each other. We care for each other. Carers are selfless, kind and the best tonic for other carers – despite being drained by society and the system. I see you. I bloody love you. I know the difference you truly make. And I’m grateful that you exist.

Too many words...

I see you.

#CarersWeek #RealCarersWeek

Moving tribute to a son who died while taking ‘antipsychotic’ drugs.
By MITUK admin

madintheuk.com/2025/06/movi...

#PsychiatricDrugs #SideEffectsMatter #InformedConsent #MentalHealthAdvocacy
#TardiveDyskinesia #MedicationAwareness

#Oliverscampaign
Oliver should be sleeping safely in his own bed, instead he lays in a grave
This #learningdisability2025 let's stop these horrendously preventable deaths due to inequality of health care, ignorance, diagnostic overshadowing, bias & prejudice

Reminder of our report: Hospital is not home.

We considered the circumstances of 55 people who were in a learning disability or mental health hospital for over 10 years.

We found that people are staying in hospital for too long; on average 18 years and 2 months.

More here: bit.ly/4axFGiv

May 2025 in Review

Visit our website to catch up with any blogs you may have missed! madintheuk.com

#MadInTheUK #VoicesForChange #MentalHealthdebate #mentalhealthdiscourse #MentalHealthReform #PsychiatricSurvivor
#MadInTheUK #EndPsychAbuse #MentalHealthJustice

Publication Day  — Stephen Unwin The day that a book goes out into the world is a strange one. In many ways, nothing happens: the book has been printed, advance copies have been circulated, and the only thing that changes is that it ...

The incredible ‘Beautiful Lives - how we got learning disabilities so wrong’ is published today.

The author, @stephenunwin.bsky.social has written about what this day means to him. Do please read.

#LearningDisabilities

www.stephenunwin.uk/thoughts-and...

YouTube video by Cody Godwin STUCK IN THE SYSTEM: Care in Crisis

youtube.com/watch?v=n3hq... 9 years have passed and still many are stuck..we need action not meaningless empty promises. Nothing is too complex or difficult to happen if the work, action and effort is put in. Home, love, family and a good life. A basic human right for everyone 🙏

Protest brings anger at failure to act on ‘homes not hospitals’ plea to government’s front door The Labour government has “betrayed” autistic people and people with learning difficulties who have been abused and abandoned in mental health institutions, activists told a protest in front of the…

www.disabilitynewsservice.com/protest-brin...

Essex mental health patient records covered up, say families - BBC News The Lampard Inquiry is looking into more than 2,000 mental health-related deaths.

Records were "routinely incomplete, inaccurate, inconsistently completed or, in some cases falsified - in ward after ward, hospital after hospital, year after year" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The SHRC appeared before the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee to discuss their report. The detention of people with LD and autism is a human rights issue. Their work here regarding the CRPD and HR Act is so important.

www.scottishhumanrights.com/blog/tick-to...

#BringPeopleHomeFromHospital. Calendar icon, Tues 29th April. 11:30am - 3pm. Map icon. Westminster + online Google Drive icon. View + add to our online gallery! Screenshots of videos of support from the online gallery, including from National Autistic Taskforce, Independent Living Alternatives, Stolen Lives and Miro Griffiths.

People are speaking out in support of #BringPeopleHomeFromHospital! View our public online gallery, click 'Speaking Up and Signing':
buff.ly/RPVZ3bd

There's still time to design artwork, make a banner, write a song! We'll share the gallery at the rally, and make videos of the rally to share after

'I have no support to care for my disabled son - the SEND system is broken' Leanne Gregory has been unable to return to her community worker job because she has to take care of her five-year-old son, Jude

Leanne is just one of many parents in Birmingham who are struggling to get any kind of social care/health support for their child.

It’s a disgrace that families are made to suffer like this.

inews.co.uk/news/health/...

Dr Xand's Con or Cure - Series 3: Episode 11 Delayed discharges keeping hundreds of young people locked in hospitals, the effectiveness of gut health drinks exposed, and the importance of cervical screening.

Lucy Adams talking today.. #Disclosure #Lockedinthehospital www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

#Oliverscampaign
Has anything changed at all?
"When you question the system, the system protects itself." The parents of a teenager with autism who died in a Bristol hospital have hit out saying doctors administered a drug they knew the 18-year-old was allergic to

1. It has been one year since Stolen Lives protested outside the Senedd.
Detention of people with learning disabilities and autistic people is a human rights issue. It results in harm, abuse and long-term trauma.

2. We need less hospitals in Wales and more, better quality community-based care.
Stolen Lives will continue to fight on this issue and will always remain true to its values: 'Homes not Hospitals.'

‘Every day she begs for help’: Father fights for daughter to be freed from hospital Exclusive: Government will miss target to get people with learning disabilities out of hospital by more than 8 years

Sarah has spent the entirety of her adult life in and out of hospitals that are ill-equipped to meet her needs, because of one reason – she cannot receive the support for her autism and learning disability in the community.

Bring People Home from Psychiatric Hospital. Campaign led by People with Learning Difficulties/Disabilities and Autistic People. Day of Action at Westminster and Department for Health and Social Care. Tuesday 29th April 2025, 11:30am-3pm. For more information on online & in-person campaign activities: www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/BPHH. Contact Simone Aspis, Email Address simone.aspis@inclusionlondon.org.uk, Telephone Number : 020 3327 0333, Mobile Number : 07749 892 843. A cartoon showing an autistic person and other people with labels going into a locked hospital, and an arrow from that hospital towards a home. Easy Read cartoons of Disabled people holding protest signs and Disabled people gathered in front of Big Ben and parliament, holding a sign saying Free our people now!

Ministers refused to meet with us about the #MentalHealthBill, so we are going to them. 📢 On 29th April we will deliver a letter to @skinnock.bsky.social and Baroness Merron demanding a meaningful say on how to keep us out of psychiatric hospitals.

Find out more: buff.ly/eifOvod

A circular infographic from the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) showing a six-part framework for understanding change. Each segment is represented by a colorful hexagon with an icon and label: Yellow hexagon: "What we do" (document icon) Green hexagon: "Who with" (group of people icon) Blue hexagon: "How they feel" (heart with people icon) Light blue hexagon: "What they learn and gain" (light bulb icon) Purple hexagon: "What they do differently" (puzzle pieces icon) Pink hexagon: "What difference this makes" (target icon) Arrows connect each hexagon in a clockwise cycle around the SHRC logo in the center. The background is dark blue. Image credit: Scottish Human Rights Commission

The Scottish Human Rights Commission has published their new theory of change framework which sets out how they plan, monitor & measure the impact of their work.
➡️ ow.ly/4FvL50VrwN9

Join us on 13 May to learn more about our work together to develop this.
ℹ️ www.matter-of-focus.com/from-strateg...

Subscribe to #AnnaFreud newsletter to be the first to see new animation with @aquinnunbroken.bsky.social
We are passionate about neuro-diversity informed practice and we are asking professionals to un-think and re-think about seclusion and long term segregation
www.annafreud.org/training/hea...

Every day is so hard when separated from loved ones.. Thinking of everyone missing their children especially on Mother's Day. Love and miss you so much son 🙏♥️

Really pleased to have collaborated with such brilliant thought leaders to critique the idea that enforced isolation (LTS) can be therapeutic. Our new paper suggest solitary confinement has no place in modern health care. 1/4

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

A lot will be said about the NHS structure, functions and system processes in the coming weeks and month. As you hear and read it, keep this in mind and ask if we're making the same mistakes now? #patientsafety

YouTube video by Doughty Street Chambers A deep dive into the Mental Health Bill 2024 - Autism and learning disability

Here’s the video recording of our webinar last week on autism, learning disability and the #MentalHealthBill. Thanks to all who spoke and watched! youtu.be/oM53rBKkLEM @rightfullives.bsky.social @learningdisability.bsky.social

At the SDSS National Voice yesterday, interesting workshops and more honesty about the gap between where we are and where we need to be.

As always, we won't get there without a real power shift and full accountability to disabled people and their families.

Loads of great projects and more to do!

At the end of last year, we shared a powerful series of artwork created by a young woman, depicting her experiences of seclusion and long-term segregation (LTS).

The RRN is grateful to the artist for sharing her work. You can view her work here: restraintreductionnetwork.org/resource/artwork-lt...