Why I’m interviewing people with learning disabilities and autism about their life story

My name is Donna. I am very artistic. I love to write poetry and short stories. I love history and creative writing. I particularly enjoy writing about the countryside, flowers and fantasy. I have written a lot of seasonal poetry as I’m very passionate about it.

I live independently in my flat. I love my own space and enjoy cooking meals and relaxing in my flat. I feel very grateful to have a place of my own because if I had been born in the 1950s I wouldn’t have the same opportunities as I do now.

Our Life Stories

I am really pleased to be involved in the Our Life Stories project as I feel it will have a huge impact on people with additional needs. In the project, we are finding out about the history of the care system. It has been quite eye-opening for me as I have learned that we were not treated equally in the past.

History of social care

People with additional needs were treated very poorly and institutionalised. This was not fair as everyone should have the right to a normal life. Children born with disabilities were not allowed to go to school, and were often locked away and ostracized. This made people with disabilities feel rejected by society. They were not seen as equals, which meant they had a disadvantage in life.

There were a lack of services in the community and poor living conditions. Between 1930 and 1950 care systems were particularly bad. This is when people with disabilities were often locked away in places called asylums. These were harsh places to put people with disabilities where they were mistreated instead of being supported.

Sharing our life stories

The reason I wanted to be involved in this project was because I realised I had a lack of knowledge about the history of people with disabilities. I was shocked at the findings of how people with disabilities were treated. I would like to spread awareness about how the care system was many years ago, and make sure that it doesn’t happen again. I feel spreading awareness will hopefully encourage the system to always be better.

I am most looking forward to hearing more life stories from people with disabilities, and hearing what experiences they’ve had. It will be interesting to see the different experiences when we interview others. I am little bit nervous about interviewing as I’ve never done it before, but excited at the same time.

Here is a short poem I wrote after learning more about the history of people with learning disabilities:

Unfairness of learning disabilities,

In the past that’s not right.

Treated so badly with discontent,

they were locked away.

Never to be seen again.

That’s not fair!

Secluded.

So many years ago.