Day 106 of #107days
Exactly one year ago today, our colleague Sara Ryan was interviewed on camera about her son Connor to help another colleague practise her interviewing skills for a Healthtalkonline project. The next day (a year ago tomorrow) Connor passed away unexpectedly and what had been purely a practice exercise became a memento for Sara and her family, of happier times.
Connor died in a specialist learning disability treatment and assessment unit aged just 18. An independent report said that his death was preventable and showed that Connor had been failed during his 107 days in the unit. Sara and many others have established the 107 days campaign calling for better service provision for people with learning disabilities. Today we’re publishing extracts from Sara’s interview to celebrate the memory of Connor (aka ‘LB’ or Laughing boy as he has become known) for day 106 of the #107days campaign.
Clip 1 is about Connor himself, his personality and interests. In Clips 2 and 3 Sara talks about the problems she faced in getting a diagnosis and good care services throughout Connor’s lifetime. Clip 3 is about Sara’s blog, which she set up around 3 years ago to write about life with Connor and which has built up a big following. Since Connor’s death Sara has used the blog and twitter to document her grief, campaign to improve services for people with learning disabilities and to raise money so that her family can get legal representation at Connor’s inquest. Sara discusses the impact of the blog on Connor, herself and others.