Justice for Laughing Boy: Connor Sparrowhawk – A Death by Indifference
| Published date | 12 February 2018 |
| Pages | 69-70 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JAP-12-2017-0039 |
| Date | 12 February 2018 |
| Author | Margaret Flynn |
| Subject Matter | Health & social care,Vulnerable groups,Adult protection,Safeguarding,Sociology,Sociology of the family,Abuse |
By Sara Ryan
Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London
2017
272pp.
£12.99
Review DOI
10.1108/JAP-12-2017-0039
Justice for Laugh ing Boy: Connor
Sparrowhawk –A Death by Indifference by
Sara Ryan is an account of a family’s deep
plunge into grief arising from the preventable
death of 18-year-old Connor Sparrowhawk
during July 2013. He ha d been an in-patient
at Slade House, an NHS assessment and
treatment unit run by Southern Health N HS
Foundation Trust, for just 107 days when he
was found unconsci ous in a bath. The book
sets out the stubb ornly insensitiv e sequelae
whichresultfromthedeathofamanwho,
in his mother’swords,“sat beyond
definitions of norm al”.His“magic and
eccentricity”were eclipsed by the
problem-laden dia gnoses of autism, global
developmental delay, epilepsy and disability
–and services which exhaust credibility.
Connor’s family did not foresee his death.
They had ideas about the future he might
inhabit –he was an assiduous litter-picker, he
was absorbed by re-cycling, traffic –most
particularly buses, coaches and lorries –and
he loved London buses. His focus on
favoured activities matched a revelatory
imagination and firecracker conversations.
Yet in the final months of Connor’s life, he and
his family were in extremis. He had become
agitated and unpredictable, his familiar
routines less and less palatable to Connor
and distressing events led to the wretched
decision that specialist help was required. His
experience at Slade House is a bleakly
instructive parable of displacement –remote
from his family life, comforts and everything
that his family wished for him.
The book might have been written by a
bewildered archaeologist who is piecing
together Connor’s life from family albums, the
stand-out memories of those who loved him
and the damning blind spots of a damaging
service. However, it is lined with humour.
Readers will not be able to keep a straight
face as they think about house security, meet
farmers or contemplate visiting caves. The
account is also lined with disbelief, anger and
dismay. Sara Ryan describes the
interventions of specialist services which were
unacceptable and inconsistent with her whole
family’s well-being.
Within hours of Connor’s admission to Slade
House he was restrained, that is to say, he
was pinned to the floor, face down, and he
was sectioned under the Mental Health Act
1983; his 13-year-old brother was not
allowed to visit him or even visit the grounds
with the family’s dog; visiting arrangements
made by his parents were forgotten; and the
tyranny of Connor’s“choice”prevailed. Since
Connor was 18, it was explained to his family
that he had to give them permission to visit
each day. Also, it meant that Connor could
“choose”not to eat.
The book offers space to the overpowering
need to understand how a NHS service could
be so indifferent to the distress of a young
adult and to the experiential knowledge of his
family. The violation of expectations that
Connor’s family endured –disregarding the
implications of changing his medication or
even engaging with the fact of his epilepsy, for
example –set the scene for the emotional
punches which followed.
From the elemental pain of contemplating a
young son’sfuneral and speaking of Connor in
the past tense, the collaborative efforts of Sara
Ryan’s networks of family, friends and
colleagues, and those from her blog: https://
mydaftlife.com/,melded into a vivid exampleof
a multi-pronged campaign programme. A
human rights barrister provided timely and
crucial advice; the parents of children and
young people at Connor’s school, teaching
assistants and friends of Connor’ssiblings
created a funeral whichreflected his passions;
the relatives of people withlearning disabilities
and autism shared their ideas; and Connor
Sparrowhawk’s life continues to be honoured
in music, quilting, and performance arts.
Justice for Laughing
Boy: Connor
Sparrowhawk –A
Death by Indifference
VOL. 20 NO. 1 2018, pp. 69-70, © Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1466-8203
j
THE JOURNAL OF ADULT PROTECTION
j
PAG E 69
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