Scope is proposing to close 8 of its' residential care centres rather than re-develop/modernise facilities.  This will force approx 150 people to have to move; live with strangers in either very small supported living enviroments,  or on their own with a domicialiary care package.

Claire Wills is 51yrs of age, has lived at The Drummonds Centre in Feering, Colchester for the past 12yrs.  She has 39 other people in her community and enjoys a full life with on-site social, leisure and educational activities.  She has been supported to hold 3 public art exhibitions in the past 2yrs and to marry, even though she cannot speak or do anything for herself.  The Drummonds centre has enabled Claire to experiene a rich and fulfilling life and now, because someone somewhere says 'all disabled people have the right to live independently', she and her community face being disabanded across the country and being moved away from all that they know.

Six of the 41 people where Claire lives have expressed an interest in living independently, the rest are grief stricken at the thought of losing thier home.  Parents of these people are predominately in their 80's and facing very uncertain and stressful times as their sons and daughters are facing closure of what is a very valued and person-centred service.

Scope has widended its' remit to now encompass all people with all levels of disability, seemingly turning its' back on the most vulnerable and people with complex cerebral palsy for whom it was first established.  Telling relatives and carers that 'your family member will have a choice about where they live but it won't be within a Scope residential centre' is not choice.  The reality is, there is no dedicated provision in existence for people with cerebral palsy and funding local authorities do not have a portfolio of care centres to choose from.  The reality is that when these homes close,  people will be forced to accept whatever's on offer and if recent research is anything to go by, this will mean small bungalows in communities that have poor wheelchair access and high staff turnover.  These small community based homes also rely on accessible community based activities to stimulate and entertain their 'residents' and if only two staff are on per shift - how do individuals get to have an individualised, tailor made care plan?  In the larger residential centres, sheer volumes of staff on-site and choice of activities on-site, enable 'residents' (or 'customers' as Scope now labels people' to choose what they wish to do and have it there, on-site at their finger tips.  If staff go off sick, other staff can easily work across groups ensuring continuity of care, unlike in the 'wider community' where care agency's are relied upon and often send unskilled and unfamiliar staff (highly dangerours for non-verbal and profoundly disabled people).

Scope is seeking to lose its' most vulnerable members but we cannot let them do this,  as the UN Convention says, 'disabled people have the right to choose where they live' and Scope withdrawing its' residential provision, is forcing people to have a very limited choice about their lives.

Please help us fight to keep The Drummonds Centre open for those people who are choosing to remain living in their community, the one that works for them.