Until we stop struggling with the idea that some health setting cultures are rotten and some practitioners do not practice with compassion and dignity, we will never improve them
So many broken promises and missed targets - so 15 years after the ‘watershed’ of Winterbourne View, autistic people & citizens with learning disabilities still suffer state-sanctioned abuse. My @theipaper column on a scandal dragging on in plain sight https://t.co/fSMScP5x3m
It's a sad indictment of NHS mental health services that whilst I was in crisis, my (wonderful!) counselling psychologist had no choice but to discharge me from eating disorder therapy for ARFID "as a strategic move" to get me urgent support from crisis services.
@Quiet_Shrink@RITB_ Thank you, you are so sweet - I'm feeling a lot better now, long may it last. I feel very relieved to have avoided hospital admission & got by with crisis team input. I know that you're having a rough time at the moment, I'm sorry things are so difficult. Sending lots of love xxx
@RITB_ Staff there also couldn't comprehend that I have a job & questioned how I have any money if I'm not on benefits.
Bedrooms had locks on them but staff would unlock my door & just barge in without knocking or giving me time to open the door myself.
@RITB_ I stayed in a crisis house recently where they wanted me to stay for 2 weeks (maximum length of stay). I discharged myself after 2 nights as the "support" was filling in the DIALOG+, having your medication dispensed, being fed insipid recovery aphorisms, & seeing the crisis team.
@Myjourney31 I haven't asked as I assume they would most likely just change it to a "past" rather than "active" issue, so not really doing a huge amount.
@Myjourney31 I guess stigma-wise it varies from professional to professional. Some are weirdly (inappropriately) curious/salacious, others genuinely curious in a kind way, others have never even heard of it. But it irks me when it's mistaken for a PD because it isn't categorised as one.
@Myjourney31 My dissociative identity disorder diagnosis was coded as both "dissociative disorder" & "multiple personality disorder" - despite the latter having not been its name since the early nineties! This means it occasionally gets mistaken for a PD rather than a dissociative disorder.
@nuwandiss Double beds & TVs in bedrooms do not necessarily mean kind and compassionate care... I wrote a thread on this once: https://t.co/kvaFQZoDIc
🧵2 years ago today, I arrived at a psychiatric hospital: detained under the Mental Health Act.
The hospital was new, with double beds & TVs in bedrooms.
But I acquired the label of "challenging behaviour" & was subjected to a cruel regime of extensive restrictive practice. 1/8
Are you Autistic and have you been given the ‘challenging behaviour’ label? If yes, and you have the spoons, please consider participating in our wonderful Chloe’s study. #ActuallyAutistic
@RITB_ https://t.co/c5pu0899b5
I have had to fill it in via the CMHT, crisis team, & crisis house... multiple times by each service within a very short period of time. Make it make sense.
My mental health trust's website claims that DIALOG+ is a way of "co-producing" a care plan.
Well, I guess this is it: the ultimate bastardisation of co-production.
As someone who has filled it in more times than I care to remember, nothing about it is co-produced.
I am still looking to speak to more UK-based autistic adults who have been assigned the "challenging behaviour" label (like I have).
Participation in my research can be over email, video call/chat (camera on or off), or in a public place in London.
Supervisor: @drstevenkapp
They say: "You have challenging behaviour".
I say: "I am a multiply neurodivergent, traumatised person - who has faced immense iatrogenic harm - experiencing overwhelming distress & sensory overload in a highly activating, triggering environment. I am doing my best to cope".
A NHS Trust was ordered to pay compensation to a patient over use of Oxevision (LIO) - what does this mean for other Trusts? What does the guidance from NHSE and CQC say?
Plus, read our letter to NHS England asking them to take action
https://t.co/hmRrXwlBLJ
As a trauma survivor, I am always sceptical of someone when they deem something to be a "safe space".
It's paternalistic - who decides what constitutes a "safe space"? Professionals.
How can everyone feel safe in the same conditions?
I believe in more nuanced "safer spaces".
TW: suicide attempt, self-harm
Once, I was in A&E after a suicide attempt.
A man (who was there for a suicide attempt too) hugged me without consent whilst I was hurting myself.
I screamed & began to cry & shake.
Healthcare professionals chastised me for being "mean" to him.
As an autistic ADHDer, I often prefer phone calls to written communication.
This is because:
a) I'm painfully impatient.
b) Written communication involves waiting for a response. I cannot cope with the uncertainty about what the response will be.
Communication is nuanced.