David Potter MBE, founder of the charity Prospects, reflects on the Panorama programme exposing the shocking truth.
Way back in June 1981, Associated Television broadcast a devastating documentary called Silent Minority.
It was an expose of state-run institutions in the UK for people with learning disabilities. It revealed the shocking abuse and mistreatment to which they were subjected in two ‘subnormality hospitals’ — yes, we really did talk of them like that. Norman Fowler, Secretary of State responsible at the time, said that it was not the norm, but it led to similarly awful conditions being exposed up and down the country. Every parent of a person with a learning disability who saw the programme would have looked on in horror knowing that those institutions were the most likely future for their son or daughter when they themselves could no longer provide care.
