Living in Fear: Better outcomes for people with learning disabilities and autism.

In the UK, almost all people with learning disabilities and autism live either in the family home or with support in their own home or a community based residential service. How much contact people have with their community and the support they have to access their community safely often depends on where they live and their level of ability (Emerson and Hatton, 20081). As people have become more visible and active in their local communities, the issue of personal safety has increased in relevance and importance. The media, official sources such as public enquiries and a small number of recent research studies have all highlighted disabled people’s experiences of victimisation in the community and in particular the problem of disability hate crime. The issue is one of human rights – under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with a Disability, article 19(2006) states that people with disabilities have a right to a life in the community – not just a house. The European Convention on Human Rights states that all people have a right to freedom from persecution and torture and a right to liberty and security. The UK Disability Discrimination Act (2005) clearly sets out the expectation that people with disabilities should be included and not discriminated against in terms of access to services and facilities, employment, education to name just a few. The Mental Capacity Act (2005) clearly sets out that people with intellectual disabilities should be assumed to have capacity for each individual decision they have to make unless strong evidence suggests otherwise