Young people with disabilities denied chance to become 'proper teenagers' |
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07-Oct-2007 - [College] Disabled youngsters are being denied the opportunity to become “proper teenagers” according to one of the country’s leading colleges for disabled young people featured on a Channel Five documentary tonight (Monday 8th). “Extraordinary People – the Boy Who Can Never Grow Old” features 19-year-old Stuart Wickison from Treloar College in Hampshire, as he battles to fulfil his dreams despite suffering from the terminal muscle-wasting condition, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Like other young people, Stuart and his friends want to go to pubs, have relationships and follow their dreams. All this is possible with the specialist help available in many residential colleges for physically disabled young people. At Treloar College, the UK’s first beacon college for severely physically disabled 16-25 year olds, students can even be assisted by specially trained staff to have relationships, and express their sexual needs if that is their wish (see appendix). Life outside these specialist centres, however, can be frustrating and extremely lonely for disabled young people, according Dr Graham Jowett, Treloar’s Director of Education. He is calling upon the government to create a new type of transition worker or advocate to help disabled young people “through probably the hardest period of their lives”. “Although the Department of Children, Schools and Families has recognised the need to put resources into support for families with a disabled child, there is a desperate need for workers with the skills to bring these resources together in the teenage years.” Dr Jowett says it is well-known that services for these youngsters are “extremely disjointed and patchy. These young people need advocates with the necessary experience to see them through to adulthood.” “Growing up for most teenagers is a process of developing independence, but the spontaneity and experimentation which non-disabled young people enjoy is impossible for many disabled young people who are almost entirely dependent upon their parents. If you’re seriously disabled you generally don’t go on sleep-overs or fall in and out of love. Even something as simple as going to the pub or taking exams is fraught with difficulties.”
Treloar’s has pioneered and underwritten “Moving On” an outreach project offering assistance to physically disabled young people aged between 16-25 living in Lewisham and Woking (see appendix for case study). The outreach service aims to help local disabled people with practical lifestyle issues such as housing, employment and social independence. While it is hoped that other agencies will develop this project, Dr Jowett believes central government assistance is needed urgently. APPENDIX SAFE – Sexuality in Further Education Eight years ago, responding to requests from the students, Treloar College sought legal advice to create a pioneering framework in which the young people could be assisted in having physical relationships providing both parties were consenting and there was no abuse or coersion involved. The policy took 18 months to draft with the help of a barrister and a further six months to agree with the senior management team and college governors. It was piloted for a year before becoming part of the college’s formal policy. “The students were saying that they were told they should be independent and make decisions for themselves and yet the most basic human right to have a physical relationship was taboo,” said Dr Jowett. “Specially trained staff can assist the young people to have a physical relationship providing we are clear they are both consenting and there is no abuse of power involved.” The College policy states “helping students towards self-fulfilment is not just ancillary to educational aims but an integral feature of the college’s task. To exclude from this task support in intimate relationships would be to deny students the same opportunity as other young people.” The SAFE policy is now available to other colleges and hospices.
Matthew Hague, aged 22, from Woking is a highly sociable young man with no natural speech. As a small child, his disability was no bar to friendships. According to his mother their house was constantly humming with youngsters popping into play with Matthew. As a young adult, his home town has become an extremely lonely one. While his childhood friends have moved on, he finds it hard to make new friendships without speech. Matthew’s cerebral palsy has also affected his ability to swallow so that he sometimes dribbles, which can also be off-putting when meeting new people. “There’s no-one around here who is Matthew’s friend any more. He gets very low sometimes,” said his mother Frances Bundock. “We do what we can to help but really what 22-year-old wants to go out at night with his mother?” At the moment Matthew is in his last year at a special college near Coventry, where he has friends during the term time. His family are worried what will happen to Matthew when he leaves the safety of college. “I have no doubt in my mind that his next stage of life will be the hardest. I know of a couple of disabled young men who became clinically depressed when they settled down to adult life,” said Frances. Matthew is currently being helped to find work and make friends by Craig Holder from Treloar’s 'Moving On' project in Woking, “Craig helps Matthew fill in forms, goes with him to interviews and takes him to places where he can meet other young people. It’s been revolutionary for Matthew. Every disabled young person should have a Craig,” said Frances. ENDS Contact:
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