“A gilded cage, is no longer a cage.”
Grace Eyre believes in people with a learning disability and autistic people’s right to live a life of dignity, choice, respect and inclusion.
The Supreme Court’s ruling to remove the framework of Cheshire West is a fundamental assault on people without capacity’s protection around care choices.
People without capacity may no longer have the right to advocacy, legal aid or review of their care settings and if they do not actively resist their care arrangements, they are deemed to be consenting to them.
We believe this ruling will inevitably lead to closed cultures where abusive practice can thrive.
Josh, Co-Chair of Grace Eyre’s Board of Trustees, said:
“Panorama has already exposed the repercussions of closed cultures in the cases of Winterbourne View and Whorlton Hall. This ruling makes abusive practice a lot more likely.”
Ben, a Grace Eyre Ambassador, said:
“Sometimes people don’t like their support but they can’t tell you – this way professionals won’t even check.”
Andrew, another Grace Eyre Ambassador, added:
“For the voiceless, we need to speak up even louder.”
People with severe and profound disabilities are the most vulnerable in society, with care choices usually made by others on their behalf.
This ruling, which affects a population who may not have capacity to understand it, was essentially made to avoid the backlog in paperwork and the exhaustive deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) process.
People should not lose their fundamental right to dignity in their support because the system is too complicated.
We urge the government to address the systemic issues, rather than roll back disability rights.