Bedfordshire

Introduction

A major pressure for change in the way that social welfare services were provided and organised in the latter half of the twentieth century came from the voluntary sector. In this unit, you will hear from three generations of members of Bedford Mencap society, describing how they brought pressure to bear for more community facilities aimed at people with learning difficulties and their families.

The audio clips were recorded in 2000.

Participants in the audio clips:

• Brenda Nickson, founder member of the branch, whose son was born in 1955;
• Fay, a near-contemporary of Brenda's, who played a major role in getting holiday accommodation for the branch's members;
• Ann and Michael Tombs, in their fifties at the time of the recording, they have played a key role in Bedford Mencap for many years;
• Beryl, who has been a volunteer welfare visitor for many years;
• Kim, whose son was 16 at the time of the recording in 2000, and is one of the few younger people in the branch.

1 A history of Bedforshire Mencap

Mencap (ENABLE in Scotland) is one of the UK's largest and best-known voluntary organisations. It was founded in 1946, when Judy Fryd, the mother of a daughter with learning difficulties, wrote to the magazine Nursery World, asking other parents of children with learning difficulties to write to her (Shennan, 1980). They did, in large numbers. One parent, Rene Harris, recalled the impact Judy Fryd had on her:

From that very simple act by one individual sprang a major national pressure group. Rene herself went on to found the Luton branch of what was then called the National Association of Parents of Backward Children in 1955, and this was but one of 200 branches with 12,000 members founded in the decade 1946–56 (Walmsley, 2000, p. 117).

You might ask, as one of our testers did, why it was at this time that parents began to present a united front. This is a difficult question to answer – however, you might get some ideas from listening to three generations of parents from Bedford Mencap, reflecting on the way things have changed since the founding of the local society there in 1955. You will be asked to listen to these clips in Section 3.

2 Pressure for change

Bedford Mencap was founded in 1955, as a branch of the National Association for Parents of Backward Children. It provides services for its members, such as the Welfare Visitors Scheme, and also campaigns for change at national and local levels. When the branch was founded there was no provision for families other than the advice to put their child into a mental handicap hospital. Now, partly due to the efforts of Mencap, there is far more on offer. However, you'll shortly be hearing that while some older members believe that the pendulum is swinging too far in the direction of independence and inclusion, younger members are frustrated that Mencap is too conservative, and want a greater commitment to inclusive education and supported independent living.

3 Audio activity

The three clips included in this section are taken from interviews with parents who contributed to the development of the Bedfordshire branch of Mencap.

As you listen to the clips, make notes in your Learning Journal on why change was needed, and on what pressures for change the speakers mention.

4 Comment on the audio clips

4.1 Why was change needed?

Brenda Nickson highlights the absence of any support when her son was young; ignorance in the medical profession; the need for respite care, leisure provision, and some contact with other parents with similar problems.

Ann and Michael Tombs also mention the need for more services; the importance of a pressure group demanding changes; the need for a campaign to ensure that people with learning difficulties got treatment in hospital for things like cataract operations; alternatives to hospital care for long-term provision.

Beryl McLennan talks of the need parents had for information, for befriending, for practical support in applying for benefits. Latterly she has added Asian families to her list because their needs were not being met.

However, the need to exert pressure for change is not just a thing for the past. Kim Bell, a younger parent, with a 16-year-old son, believes Mencap needs to change more radically, to reflect the interests of younger people who expect more than special schools and residential provision.

4 Comment on the audio clips

4.2 What pressures for change were exerted?

The emphasis is very much on the impetus individuals gave to change. Jim Nickson in particular seems to have been a man with energy and vision. The parents set up their own services where they were missing – a holiday chalet, swimming sessions, a club where young people could meet, above all the long-established Welfare Visitor Scheme. They campaigned for services in the community as an alternative to hospital admission. A strong theme is that work they started was often taken up by the local authority later and provided through the statutory sector.

Less obvious, but also important, was greater visibility for families with children with learning difficulties. That, says Ann Tombs, was the big contribution of the 1971 Education Act which gave people the right to an education, however severe their impairment, and meant they were visible in the community as they travelled to and from school. Brenda Nickson and Rene Harris (quoted in Section 1) both indicate how isolated they felt, not knowing other families in similar situations. Mencap changed that.

There are now new pressures for change within Mencap itself. Kim Bell believes that it's too heavily dominated by older parents who do not adequately represent what her son's generation demands – independent living, work opportunities, fully inclusive education. She believes that the name itself needs to change with the times.

5 Summary

From the point of view of the contributors in the audio clips, the work individuals have done to promote change is the most obvious source of pressure. Working together, they see that parents have had a major impact over the past 50 years.

However, you can also discern the impact of ideas here, the idea that parents were ‘no longer primarily working-class objects of suspicion, but respectable, often middle-class people “burdened with care”, deserving of more public sympathy and support’ (Walmsley, 2000, p. 119). And new ideas about full citizenship for people with learning difficulties are beginning to shape Mencap’s agenda too (Mencap, 2001).

In terms of the power to set the agenda, Mencap's contribution was to shift the question from ‘how can mental deficiency be controlled?’, the question that dominated the debates prior to and after the 1913 Act, to ‘how can parents be supported in their task of bringing up children with learning difficulties?’.

References

Mencap (2001) Choice, Opportunity and Respect: Mencap's plan for the next five years, 2001–2006, London, Mencap.

Shennan, V. (1980) Our Concern: The Story of the National Society for Mentally Handicapped Children and Adults 1946–1980, London, National Society for Mentally Handicapped Children and Adults.

Walmsley, J. (2000) ‘Straddling boundaries: the changing role of voluntary organisations 1913–1959’ in Brigham, L. et al. (eds) Crossing Boundaries, Kidderminster, British Institue of Learning Disabilities.

Acknowledgements

The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence.

Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this unit:

The content acknowledged below is Proprietary and is used under licence.

Audio materials

This extract is taken from K202 © 2000 The Open University.

Unit image

Lyndon Wigmore: http://www.flickr.com/photos/left_handed_male/429730885/ [Details correct as of 13th January 2009]