UK Needs New Charter of Rights for People With Learning Disabilities

MOSCOW, November 26 (Sputnik) — The United Kingdom should introduce a new Charter of Rights for people with learning disabilities and/or autism, the report "Winterbourne View — Time for Change" published Wednesday stated.

"The Government should draw up a Charter of Rights for people with learning disabilities and/or autism and their families, and it should underpin all commissioning," the report prepared by the Transforming Care and Commissioning Steering Group, chaired by Sir Stephen Bubb, read.

"The Charter should clarify existing rights, and set out new rights we propose below. The mandatory commissioning framework later in our recommendations should require all commissioners to invest in services that make these rights "real" and easily used," the report said.

The report also provides recommendations on how to change the situation in the country's care homes for the better.

"Over the past few years people with learning disabilities and/or autism have heard much talk but seen too little action, and this forms the backdrop to our recommendations and our desire to see urgent action taken now to make a reality of the Winterbourne pledge," Bubb stated in the report's foreword.

This independent report was elaborated after the British government failed to effectively address the so-called Winterbourne View scandal, exposed by the BBC in 2011, when disturbing footage was caught on camera at the Winterbourne View care home in Bristol. It showed the care home's staff physically and mentally abusing patients with learning disabilities and/or autism. The footage provoked a wave of indignation among the UK's population when released by the BBC's Panorama television program.