Bristol City Council Autism Failures Report Viewed ‘Very Positively’
Bristol City Council has lamented the fact a damning independent report into serious failings affecting people with learning disabilities and autistic people has been publicised by the city’s residents.
The Executive Director of People, Hugh Evans, made the minimising comments in a presentation given last year – Building Rights: a review of Bristol’s polices and actions for people with learning disabilities and autistic people – video of which has been shared with us.
Addressing an online group of more than 40 people, in a video appearing to be dated 28 September 2021, Evans told attendees that Sir Stephen Bubb’s report uncovering the failings of services to support people with learning disabilities and autistic people in the city had been ‘seized upon’ because Bristol was a city of ‘social justice’.
Evans was discussing Bubb’s investigation and report – Review of Bristol’s policies and actions for people with learning disabilities and autism, which was published in May 2021.
Three families featured at the heart of Bubb’s investigation, with the individuals concerned saying their experiences with the main agencies they had encountered left them ’emotionally scarred’.
Bubb found agencies ‘often failed’ to provide ‘effective support and advice’ making it ‘extraordinarily difficult’ for families to challenge decisions made about their family members.
He said: ‘Families need more support, but this must be underpinned by strengthening their rights to speak out, to be listened to and to challenge.’
He stated: ‘Bristol’s agencies act within the context of a national system of care and support for people with learning disabilities and autism that is wholly inadequate. I reflect on how little has changed since I wrote my report on the Winterbourne View scandal in 2016.’
Bubb said: ‘Bristol can no longer claim to be an ‘autism friendly city’ and should stop using this slogan. This is not to suggest that changes and improvements have not been made, but it is not appropriate to use the slogan when the evidence to support it is lacking.’
But Hugh Evans believed the damning review was actually a ‘good flag’ and could be viewed ‘very positively’. He said that some parts of the country look to Bristol as being a ‘good place’ for services for autistic people and the support they had.
He also said the report had been ‘seized upon’ because Bristol has a history of ‘fighting for equity and human civil rights.
Transcript of the video:
Evans said: “And when this review came out, I think it was, it was seized upon by quite a number of people for a range of reasons. It’s been viewed, whilst it’s highly critical, it’s been viewed very positively because it a good flag, a good line in the sand for us to kind of consider in regard to our approaches to this.
“As I heard being mentioned in the previous presentation, Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire’s performance in this area’s by no means unusual. We don’t stand out nationally as a particularly bad place. In fact, some places do look to us as being a good place in regard to services for autistic people and support. But it’s not good enough, as this report highlights.
“And it’s been seized upon because I think Bristol especially has got quite a strong history of fighting for equity and human civil rights, social justice and citizenship. So I think this has been taken as being a stark example of how some people in society really don’t get the fair crack of the whip.”
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