Category: learning disability

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Margaret Fleming

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

This woman probably died in 1999. That’s when she was last seen by her GP and by anyone at all who wasn’t her carer. Until 2016 NO ONE NOTICED. Margaret had learning disabilities. Her carers claimed benefits on her behalf until 2016 when benefits officials FINALLY paid a visit to her home. Her carers, I use the term loosely, claimed she was at the house in 2017 and ran off when police arrived to search for her. They’ve now been convicted of her murder. This report and image come from the Scottish Daily Record, but it’s not the only instance … Continue reading Margaret Fleming

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learning disability6 Comments

‘If it ain’t broke …’ now an i/Phone/Pad/Pod/Thing download

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

If it ain’t broke …’ has been on This Personal Space since May 20th, 2012 and now I am very pleased to announce its availability as an iPhone/iPad download from Ether Books, 12/07/12. A brave decision by Ether – not everyone would take the risk of featuring a story whose main character is a man with Down’s Syndrome, especially one who doesn’t live up to the stereotype of happy, smiley but ultimately helpless dependent. The app and the download are free. If you felt so inclined, you could take a look and maybe even give it a star or two? Jolly good. Continue reading ‘If it ain’t broke …’ now an i/Phone/Pad/Pod/Thing download

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learning disability, The Other Room Journal13 Comments

‘Lovely Girls’: a grim tale of one woman’s life in an institution

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

‘Lovely Girls‘ is not lovely at all. Described by one person as ‘wonderful, inasmuch as something so crushing can be wonderful‘, and by another as ‘richly conceived and … harrowing’, it is a fictional account of the life of one woman in an institution for ‘the mentally handicapped’. I worked in such places in the mid 1970s and early 1980s. I was part of the closure programme when people were moved from this awfulness to more humane environments, and I saw how the attitudes of both public and ex-patients changed. Service users gained skills and self-respect, our neighbours learned how to communicate with someone … Continue reading ‘Lovely Girls’: a grim tale of one woman’s life in an institution

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learning disability, writers, writing2 Comments

Winterbourne abuse scandal

Suzanne Conboy-Hill

Writing is writing, right? Someone in ‘Good Will Hunting’ said that, if you can do it, you should, on behalf of all those who can’t. Well this link to my other blog, my other life, is my writerly way of speaking for those who can’t. Others have done the same. Journalists have made erudite comment. The BBC gave us the material. But we all knew it was happening, somewhere in our souls, our collective psyche. We knew that we could not always trust humans to act with humanity, or decency, or even just plain neglectfully. We knew that some would see an opportunity for … Continue reading Winterbourne abuse scandal

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