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news release
For the attention of: news editors
PR4551
Friday, February 8, 2002
FORMER RESIDENTS TELL THEIR STORIES OF LIFE IN THE LONG-STAY HOSPITAL
Former residents of long-stay hospitals are being given a much-needed voice to share their
experiences of life in the institutions – thanks to an Open University oral history project.
Researchers are drawing on the experiences of former residents to present to a wider
audience the history of community care for people with learning difficulties.
Not only do their stories present details of a period in social history that is drawing to a close,
but, more importantly, their telling empowers those who were in the hospitals.
Several titles, in which residents retell their stories and researchers reflect on their work,
have already been published; an archive of material is also expanding. A new title, yet to be
published, will consider how relatives look back on the lives of the children who went into the
institutions.
One former resident recalls how their history "was something I needed to find out". They
added: "Some of it, like the names they called you in them days … that hurt a little bit, but
otherwise I think (the project) was great."
Another, reflecting on the same point, said: "I think that it's nice to know about things that
you've never really done and never really thought of. In another way, it brings back
memories."
The project is an extension of work by the university's School of Health and Social Welfare.
Dorothy Atkinson, senior lecturer in health and social welfare and sub-dean for research at
the school, says: "The school has produced courses that have pioneered the use of oral and
life history work as a way to enable people with learning difficulties to find a voice.
m/f
-2"The oral history project adds to that work and is of immense value both to those who are
sharing their stories and to researchers who are reflecting on their work. The project
encourages those who take part to reflect on their lives and circumstances and helps them to
understand the external factors that determined the paths their lives took."
Sensitivity to the concerns of those taking part is always at the forefront of the researchers'
work. Some of the autobiographers are keen to have their names attached to their work;
others prefer to remain anonymous.
Work by project staff investigating some of the hospital archives has revealed to former
residents information about their lives of which they had been previously unaware.
Researchers, for example, helped to discover more about the previous homes a former
resident of a Surrey hospital had stayed in – information that was new to the person
concerned.
Dorothy Atkinson adds: "In many ways, the project is led by those taking part. Former
residents have acted as co-editors and people who have been subjects of research have
gone on to undertake some research themselves. The project allows for the combination of
memory and documentary sources so that the things of everyday life that aren't found in
official written records can have their rightful place in history."
EDITOR'S NOTES
Among the titles published as part of the project are:
Know Me As I Am; Forgotten Lives: Exploring the History of Learning Disability; and
Crossing Boundaries: Change and Continuity in the History of Learning Disability.
The Oral History project is the work of the Open University's School of Health and Social
Welfare, the UK's largest provider of education and training for health and social care. More
than 12,000 students took undergraduate courses with the school in 2001; several thousand
other people studied non-assessed learning materials.
MEDIA CONTACTS
Neil Coaten
Open University Media Relations
01908 652580
Dorothy Atkinson
Open University School of Health and Social Welfare 01908 654258
Theresa Britt
Open University School of Health and Social Welfare 01908 654204