When @justiceforLB met @BigSocietyDis 26th January, 2015

When @justiceforLB met @BigSocietyDis

Yesterday, 26th January, 2015, we were delighted to host a meeting between the #JusticeforLB campaign team and the “Big Society? Disabled people with learning disabilities and civil society” at Manchester Metropolitan University.
As readers of this blog will know, Connor Sparrowhawk, known affectionately by his family as Laughing Boy (LB), died an entirely preventable death in an Asssessment and Treatment Unit on 4th July, 2013, aged 18. Connor, a young man with a learning disability and epilepsy, was left alone to drown in the bath.
From the campaign for justice for Connor, a new bill has been proposed to change the law and to make it a legal reality for disabled people to be fully included in their communities as well as making it harder for the State to force disabled people to leave their homes against their wishes, or the wishes of their families.
The purpose of the meeting was to bring together the learning shared through the project with the learning from the development of the #LBBill. Members of the project team, including the Research Management group, joined search Dr Sara Ryan (Justice for LB campaigner and Research Director, the University of Oxford), Steve Broach (Barrister, Monckton Chambers, London), George Julian (freelance knowledge transfer consultant, blogger and campaigner) and Mark Neary (blogger, campaigner and father to a dude).
Helen Smith, one of the project partners, facilitated the meeting. With Helen’s guidance, we considered each of the 8 Clauses in the draft bill and what our learning from the project could do to inform each of the clauses.
Here’s a small taster of what people said …