The Bedford Heist
Page 27
At a later meeting my mother asked him what else he and his team had done to make the county one of the leaders in provision for autistic children in the country. He replied in one word “Education” although he said that he couldn’t take full credit for this as another group in the county started the ball rolling with the introduction of the Teacch method (Teacch is spelt correctly) which was used in some states in America. Education is important in any child’s life but with autism it brings extra challenges as few autistic children can cope with crowded classrooms and noise. He went on to explain that his daughter was very happy at a special school in the county but someone in Maggie Thatcher’s government came up with the bright idea that there shouldn’t be any special schools as all kids were equal and should attend mainstream schools. This looks a great idea on paper and if we lived in an ideal world it would be great, but we don’t. As usual with the Thatcher era everything was down to money. The government could save money by closing these special schools and the Education (Schools) act 1992 was introduced. Many of the older generation remember Maggie for the disastrous poll tax and the ending of free school milk for children but I will always remember her for the woman who ripped my family apart. There wasn’t a state school in the county that could cope with his daughters sever autism and other disabilities, so she ended up in a residential school elsewhere in the country. This was devastating for his wife and family, but they were powerless to do anything about it. As a result, the family had to make a 3-hour trip to visit her for an hour every fortnight. Thankfully, the school she had been sent to wasn’t prepared to install all the special equipment she needed as she got older and after four exceptionally long four years, she was found a place at a RNIB Rushton Hall school in the county.
But again after a few years the RNIB sold the school building she was happy in and again shifted out of county and ended up in another residential RNIB school in Coventry. The meaning of the phrase “sent to Coventry” had a disastrous new meaning to his family. He warned that my mother’s task would be far from easy but in his experience those parents that shouted the loudest usually get the best out of the system. You will continue to battle education, social services, and health and just when you think you know all the answers the government will change the questions. In his opinion it would be best for one public body to take charge of all the child’s special needs and the main body could buy services from the other bodies. This would mean that parents only had one body to deal with and the government could save a lot of money by duplication of key service providers.
My mother’s friend who drove her to and from these meetings became ill and couldn’t take her anymore. My mother or father couldn’t drive so this valued source of information stopped. I did however hear that the chairman had pushed the counties social services department to provide residential care for autistic adults and a care home which was managed by the National Autistic Society had opened in Gillett’s Road, Wellingborough. I also heard that the man had also helped open another care home in Kettering (which his daughter is now a resident) and this was run by the charity Sense. He also heard that Linden had stepped down as he felt that he had done all he could but before leaving he had manage to obtain a grant from the National lottery for over £113,000 which would enable the local society to employ a full-time manager to continue the great work that Linden and his team had started.
Glen said that his brother was now in a special school for autistic children and his parents were now looking for suitable adult care for him. More about the Teacch method can be seen at http://www.autism.org.uk/teacch.
Note from the author.
32 years on from my start in becoming involved with autism I’m glad to hear of services for autistic people are now a lot better but my big concern is that the label of autism is being given to children who IMO are not autistic. We as a country have gone from parents (like me) having to pay for a private assessment to doctors using autism as a diagnosis that fits all. They say that you never stop learning and after 3 decades I now believe that my daughter Shelley suffered from a condition known as FOXG1 which is a rare neuro-developmental disorder caused by a mutation of the FOXG1 gene, which impacts brain development and function. This severe condition is characterized by seizures, inability to control body movements, and lack of speech. I’m glad to say that my daughter is at last happy in the care home that I helped set up 16 years ago. My message to all families with an autistic child is to never give up hope as with the right care and understanding on both sides’ autism can be managed and the sufferer can develop even if it takes years.
My thanks go to my lovely wife Julie and my son Stephen for helping me write this section as I was the man referred to as Linden above. My thanks go to all at the Sense care home in Kettering who do a marvellous job of looking after my daughter. Thanks also go to Beverly Samways who still works at the Coventry RNIB residential school as she has always kept in touch with Shelley and visits her at the Sense home in Kettering several times a year. Shelley always has a massive smile every time Beverley visits and just goes to prove that autistics can’t make friends. I should also mention that having a dog as a pet can be a great help as many autistics appear to be able to communicate with the dog better than with fellow humans. My family also found that swimming is great as the water seems to give them space and freedom.
My thanks also go out Sir John Lowther, who died on April 11, 2011 aged 87, who proved to be an exceptional Lord Lieutenant for Northamptonshire from 1984 to 1998. Sir John was always willing to help as was his friend Cecil Pettit MBE who set up Ability Northants which was founded under the name Northampton & District Council for the Disabled in 1978. At that time, no disability legislation existed and equality was almost unheard of but Cecil and his team (which I was proud to be part of) were dedicated to enriching the lives of people living with disabilities. Cecil sadly died in August 2000 aged 79 but his legacy lives on as he set up the Cecil Pettit Fund which now helps fund projects for people with disabilities within Northamptonshire. Finally is my dear friend Eric Mather-Franks who ran several care homes and respite care centres in Northamptonshire with his lovely wife Marie who was an excellent nurse. Eric also helped me set up and run the East Northants Council for All Disabilities (ENCAD) which enabled us to open a swimming club for the disabled in Rushden, Northants. Sadly, Eric passed in 1996 but will always be in our hearts.
About the author
Frederick Linden-Wyatt is a happily married man (in his 70’s) with a son and daughter plus two sons (one son sadly died at the young age of two) and grandson by a previous marriage and now lives in Lincolnshire, England. In 2000 he went in to a private hospital in Kettering for a well overdue hip replacement after paying in to BUPA for many years. Before his operation he had risen the ranks in the newspaper printing industry and in the 1990’s he was made a sales director of a leading PLC. In the late 90’s he left the security of a ‘proper job’ to venture on his own as a print consultant and helped fill the new press at the Eastern Newspapers plant at Norwich. Some of his contracts were for some of the UK’s top weekly newspapers such as Motorcycle News which was one of the first newspapers to be printed in full colour on all its 128 pages. He also managed the print procurement for groups such as Home Counties Newspaper which owned popular weekly tiles such has the Ham & High. At the same time, his family also owned a large kennels and cattery in Northamptonshire.
However, on the 7th of April 2000 Frederick’s hip replacement went pear-shaped and he went into a coma. Frederick was in and out of a coma and when awake didn’t recognise his wife Julie or his son Stephen. He had become violent and had to be sedated on several occasions. The coma continued and he was sent to the NHS general hospital for an MRI scan to see if he had had a stroke but nothing showed. He later discovered that he had suffered from fat embolism syndrome (FES) that got into his blood stream and when it reached his brain, most of his memory was wiped out. FES can result in death. Memory loss continued for a few years after and
to this day he relies on his wife and son to fill in the blanks. Due to his memory loss he had to give up his print consultancy and sell the kennels and cattery. Frederick had a second hip replacement in 2018 but was assured by the surgeon that they now ‘wash out’ before installing the new hip joint. If the ‘wash out’ had been done in 2000 perhaps the fat embolism could have been avoided.
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