News

Art lover Rachel has been a resident at Gregory Court since 2008, after suffering from a hypoxic brain injury after falling down the stairs backwards. She no longer has balance and her speech has been impaired. When arriving at Gregory Court, Rachel had lost interest in art, so the team worked to re-engage her passion.

Alongside the rest of the sector, we continue to be concerned by the Government’s refusal to reconsider the position of those with learning disabilities and autism in the vaccine priority list - despite the disproportionate number of deaths from Covid-19 in this group*. So, we were delighted to see that those who live at Hollyrood, our residential and day centre service for people with autism in Haywards Heath, have now been offered the vaccine and afforded increased protection.

Peter Bygate, the brother of Tricia Bygate who received rehabilitation at Daniel Yorath House tells us her incredible story.

The teaching staff at Heathermount, our specialist school in Ascot, which supports children and young people with autism and learning disabilities, have been continuing to keep students feeling safe and positive wherever they are learning during this lockdown.

Dr. Ivan Pitman, Consultant Clinical Neuropsychologist at The Disabilities Trust, shared research by the trust which shows Brain Injury in adult males, women and adolescents within the Criminal Justice System is up to five times higher than the general population, at the Neurodiversity evidence review round-table on February 10, 2021.

Our complex care and wellbeing service is for people who can’t be safely discharged into other settings. In 2019-2020, seven in 10 people admitted into our rehabilitation centres were discharged within 25 weeks or less, depending on the severity of their problems. But in some situations, people with more complex needs require ongoing care and support. They will move onto supported living services or may be discharged at a later stage.

Irene Sobowale, CEO of The Disabilities Trust, comments on social care reform in 2021 with a focus on a reappraisal of the way health and social care services are delivered in this country, with emphasis on real integration and preventive care.

New statutory guidance will recognise that survivors of domestic abuse may have sustained an acquired brain injury (ABI) for the first time - following campaigning from the Disabilities Trust.

Today, The Disabilities Trust submits evidence on the need to support neurodiversity in the criminal justice system and our extensive experience in meeting the needs of offenders with a brain injury. The call for evidence was included in the Lord Chancellor’s Sentencing White Paper to further understand the prevalence and the quality of supportive provision available to neuro-divergent individuals in the criminal justice system.

Staff and the people we support at our neurorehabilitation service for people with acquired brain injury, Redford Court, in Liverpool, were among the first within the Disabilities Trust to have been given their Covid-19 vaccinations.