logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2020
8m 58s

Care in the Community

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In the 1990s Britain closed down many of its long-stay hospitals and asylums and their patients were sent to new lives in the community. But the transition wasn't always easy. Some people had suffered abuse and found it hard to adjust to life outside. Lucy Burns has been speaking to "Michael" who has a learning disability, about his experiences both inside and outside of institutions.

Photo: A now derelict asylum in Colchester, England. Credit: Simon Webster/Alamy Stock Photo

Up next
Yesterday
The man who said ‘no’ to Disney
In 1941, Walt Disney made a tempting offer to a fellow pioneer of the animation industry, Quirino Cristiani - the author of the first animated feature film.Cristiani was an Italian immigrant raised in Argentina who built a career creating animated political satires in the early d ... Show More
9m 55s
Jul 10
Ni Una Menos women’s movement in Argentina
On 3 June 2015, tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital, Buenos Aires, and in dozens of cities and towns demanding an end to violence against women. There were demonstrations in Chile and Uruguay in solidarity too. Argentina was reporting a female murder rate of one e ... Show More
9m 31s
Jul 9
Argentina’s national genetics bank created to identify stolen babies
In 1982, Argentine geneticist Victor Penchaszadeh was living in exile in New York when he received a call that would change the course of his career. Two founding members of the campaign group, the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, were asking for his help to find their kidnappe ... Show More
10m 41s
Recommended Episodes
Apr 2024
S9: Haunted Hospitals
Tonight, author Mark Leslie will discuss his book Haunted Hospitals, in which he examines hospitals, asylums, and sanatoriums with formal spectral residents who refuse to move on.  Hospitals are supposed to be places of healing, places of birth, and places of hope. But with all o ... Show More
44 m
Nov 2016
Assister au renversement du monde
Quelques mois après le 13 Novembre, Caroline Gillet, journaliste, est entrée chez son psy, et au cours de la séance, c'est lui qui s'est mis à raconter. Il lui a parlé de lui, il lui a parlé de l'un de ses patients, il lui a rapporté une histoire bouleversante, terrible, liée aux ... Show More
26m 47s
Jun 2013
A Disabled Identity
In the final part of his series, Peter White reveals the birth of a modern disabled identity in the 19th century - through the lives of some extraordinary independent blind women. Peter says, 'I'm used to people describing me as disabled. Fair enough, I can't see. But I do wonder ... Show More
13m 52s
Oct 2022
The NHS
The NHS and the 'sick note': Laurie Taylor talks to Gareth Millward, Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) in Odense, and author of a new study which explores the history of the British welfare state via the story of the ‘sic ... Show More
28m 28s
Apr 2023
BBC OS Conversations: Living with multiple sclerosis
A ground-breaking new medical trial has begun in the UK aimed at slowing the progress of multiple sclerosis. The Octopus trial is looking into whether existing drugs can be repurposed to help slow the progression of the condition. Alykhan, who was diagnosed with MS when he was st ... Show More
24m 29s
Apr 2018
The Town Trying to Cure Loneliness
Loneliness and isolation can trigger a host of other problems, particularly for our health. But a town in Somerset, in the United Kingdom, appears to have taken a big step towards alleviating the problem. A team in Frome has implemented a handful of simple ideas – getting people ... Show More
23m 30s
Apr 2024
Opening
In the middle of the last century, a movement to free patients from state-run psychiatric hospitals swept the U.S. This movement — deinstitutionalization — is widely blamed for seriously mentally ill people ending up on the streets. The real story goes much deeper than a loss of ... Show More
46m 19s
Feb 2023
Inside Story: Life in Prison, As Told by Formerly Incarcerated People
For people who have not experienced it, life in prison can seem unimaginable. So reporters who have themselves been incarcerated can offer an important perspective when covering the prison system. NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Lawrence Bartley, host of the new series Inside Story ... Show More
10m 40s
Oct 2023
The Lancashire Seven: Possessions, Exorcisms & Executions
In the late 1500s, Britain was, spiritually speaking, in something of a confusing place for the average citizen. With the protestant reform in full swing, many old traditions were being unceremoniously cast aside by the officials, whilst still being clung to by the public, leadin ... Show More
1h 2m
Dec 2022
The Surprising History Of The First Paramedics
American Sirens author Kevin Hazzard tells the story of a community group in a Black neighborhood in Pittsburgh who helped spark a revolution in emergency medicine. As recently as the 1960s, anyone suffering a heart attack or serious injury who called for help might get a respons ... Show More
45m 41s