Post by maggiem on Apr 30, 2024 12:22:52 GMT
Please have a look at this story. It relates to a lecturer at my university.
Dr. Richard Huggins is a lecturer in Policing at the University of Salford, and his family is now the focus of a West End play. Their story has been turned into a stage production called Laughing Boy, which opened at Jermyn Street theatre on 26 April.
It revisits what happened to Richard’s son Connor Sparrowhawk, who had learning disabilities, autism and epilepsy. His nickname was Laughing Boy. In July 2013 he was found dead in a specialist NHS unit in Oxford. Connor had suffered a seizure while in the bath, and no member of staff was on hand to stop him drowning.
Connor’s mother Professor Sara Ryan, wrote a book called Laughing Boy – Death By Indifference with a foreword by human rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy. She also led a highly effective media and digital campaign to raise awareness of what happened to her son. The stage production Laughing Boy is based on her book, and Sara was part of the creative team that developed the play.
Richard believes the play will be a tribute to Connor, as well as making the case that disabled people must receive the correct quality of care for their specific needs.
Richard said: “As a family we feel that this play, the actors, director and all involved have produced a fitting, moving and celebratory piece of theatre that is both powerful and highly relevant.”
Thanks to the tireless campaigning of Connor’s family, especially his mother Sara Ryan, his case proved to be pivotal in highlighting the terrible failings in care for people with learning disabilities. His story is now studied as part of social work courses at Universities around the country, including Salford, Kent and Manchester Metropolitan Universities.
Sara and Richard spent the ensuing decade battling to get justice for their son’s entirely preventable death. In 2018 Southern Health NHS Trust was fined a record £2m after admitting ‘systematic failures’ following the deaths of two vulnerable patients, including Connor.
The celebrated Director and playwright Steve Unwin, heard about Connor through the media campaign, and asked if he might write the play about the family and Connor’s case.
“It’s a story about a family, one of whom dies – for awful reasons – aged 18. And this happened in a place which was set up to look after him. The play is the story from the ground up, it’s a huge story for a tiny stage, and that is really interesting,” said Steve.
The family have had numerous meetings with the production team to ensure they are comfortable with every detail of the script, and Sara has read it more than eight times – such is her attention to detail. “It will be strange to see myself being played on stage,” said Richard, who will be played by actor Forbes Mason.
Reflecting on his life since Connor died, Richard said: “[Sara and I] did not want Connor’s death to define us, because we have four other kids. We felt strongly they must have proper lives.”
He is optimistic about the future, remembering the generosity of people who helped and supported the family from the early days after Connor’s death, to the fight in court to get justice for him.
“Some unbelievably good things happened which helped us cope. [The children’s] friends were amazing. The first morning, two of [Connor’s sister] Rosie’s friends came round with bread and bacon and just made baps for people, for two days. So many people were coming to the house, it was such a thoughtful and brilliant thing to do.
“Connor loved travelling everywhere on the bus. The DJ Ken Bruce, had a company that rents out double decker buses and lent us a bus for the day of his funeral; he even provided two people in uniform who drove it all day. The funeral directors all wore Oxford bus company ties as part of their uniform, and we dropped bus tickets on Connor’s coffin instead of petals.”
When the legal process got underway, the family’s tireless efforts caught the attention of top barristers from Doughty Street Chambers, which was set up by Baroness Helena Kennedy, and Brick Court Chambers. They offered their services ‘pro bono’.
The teenager’s death led to the discovery that Southern Health had failed to properly assess the deaths of 857 patients with learning disabilities or mental health problems over four years.
The performance is another milestone in the unrelenting fight that the family have undertaken to raise awareness of the failings that exist in the system.
In the workplace, Richard has worked hard to involve Learning Disabled people in his practice. As a sociologist and criminologist in his last role at Oxford Brookes Richard invited Learning Disabled people in to carry out role play with his students.
“Every single one of the students said it was their favourite part of the course, and they found it transformed their view of how to speak to and behave with people with Learning Disabilities,” said Richard.
Richard and Sara know that, despite their tireless campaigning, malpractice and poor service persist in the care of highly vulnerable people – which is often undertaken by either poorly trained or downright negligent professionals who should know better.
But the family’s determination to address the problems not only forced senior people at the NHS Trust to take full responsibility, but has also shed light on the issue and helped ensure that care providers are under much greater scrutiny that they ever were before.
Laughing Boy is on at Jermyn Street Theatre until 31 May www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/laughing-boy/
Dr. Richard Huggins is a lecturer in Policing at the University of Salford, and his family is now the focus of a West End play. Their story has been turned into a stage production called Laughing Boy, which opened at Jermyn Street theatre on 26 April.
It revisits what happened to Richard’s son Connor Sparrowhawk, who had learning disabilities, autism and epilepsy. His nickname was Laughing Boy. In July 2013 he was found dead in a specialist NHS unit in Oxford. Connor had suffered a seizure while in the bath, and no member of staff was on hand to stop him drowning.
Connor’s mother Professor Sara Ryan, wrote a book called Laughing Boy – Death By Indifference with a foreword by human rights lawyer Baroness Helena Kennedy. She also led a highly effective media and digital campaign to raise awareness of what happened to her son. The stage production Laughing Boy is based on her book, and Sara was part of the creative team that developed the play.
Richard believes the play will be a tribute to Connor, as well as making the case that disabled people must receive the correct quality of care for their specific needs.
Richard said: “As a family we feel that this play, the actors, director and all involved have produced a fitting, moving and celebratory piece of theatre that is both powerful and highly relevant.”
Thanks to the tireless campaigning of Connor’s family, especially his mother Sara Ryan, his case proved to be pivotal in highlighting the terrible failings in care for people with learning disabilities. His story is now studied as part of social work courses at Universities around the country, including Salford, Kent and Manchester Metropolitan Universities.
Sara and Richard spent the ensuing decade battling to get justice for their son’s entirely preventable death. In 2018 Southern Health NHS Trust was fined a record £2m after admitting ‘systematic failures’ following the deaths of two vulnerable patients, including Connor.
The celebrated Director and playwright Steve Unwin, heard about Connor through the media campaign, and asked if he might write the play about the family and Connor’s case.
“It’s a story about a family, one of whom dies – for awful reasons – aged 18. And this happened in a place which was set up to look after him. The play is the story from the ground up, it’s a huge story for a tiny stage, and that is really interesting,” said Steve.
The family have had numerous meetings with the production team to ensure they are comfortable with every detail of the script, and Sara has read it more than eight times – such is her attention to detail. “It will be strange to see myself being played on stage,” said Richard, who will be played by actor Forbes Mason.
Reflecting on his life since Connor died, Richard said: “[Sara and I] did not want Connor’s death to define us, because we have four other kids. We felt strongly they must have proper lives.”
He is optimistic about the future, remembering the generosity of people who helped and supported the family from the early days after Connor’s death, to the fight in court to get justice for him.
“Some unbelievably good things happened which helped us cope. [The children’s] friends were amazing. The first morning, two of [Connor’s sister] Rosie’s friends came round with bread and bacon and just made baps for people, for two days. So many people were coming to the house, it was such a thoughtful and brilliant thing to do.
“Connor loved travelling everywhere on the bus. The DJ Ken Bruce, had a company that rents out double decker buses and lent us a bus for the day of his funeral; he even provided two people in uniform who drove it all day. The funeral directors all wore Oxford bus company ties as part of their uniform, and we dropped bus tickets on Connor’s coffin instead of petals.”
When the legal process got underway, the family’s tireless efforts caught the attention of top barristers from Doughty Street Chambers, which was set up by Baroness Helena Kennedy, and Brick Court Chambers. They offered their services ‘pro bono’.
The teenager’s death led to the discovery that Southern Health had failed to properly assess the deaths of 857 patients with learning disabilities or mental health problems over four years.
The performance is another milestone in the unrelenting fight that the family have undertaken to raise awareness of the failings that exist in the system.
In the workplace, Richard has worked hard to involve Learning Disabled people in his practice. As a sociologist and criminologist in his last role at Oxford Brookes Richard invited Learning Disabled people in to carry out role play with his students.
“Every single one of the students said it was their favourite part of the course, and they found it transformed their view of how to speak to and behave with people with Learning Disabilities,” said Richard.
Richard and Sara know that, despite their tireless campaigning, malpractice and poor service persist in the care of highly vulnerable people – which is often undertaken by either poorly trained or downright negligent professionals who should know better.
But the family’s determination to address the problems not only forced senior people at the NHS Trust to take full responsibility, but has also shed light on the issue and helped ensure that care providers are under much greater scrutiny that they ever were before.
Laughing Boy is on at Jermyn Street Theatre until 31 May www.jermynstreettheatre.co.uk/show/laughing-boy/
