The 7 Days of Action Campaign has launched a blog that each day for the 7 days will tell a different story of someone who has experienced life in an ATU.

People with learning disabilities resident in ATUs have committed no crime, or rarely been diagnosed with a mental health condition but can remain in units for years at a time.

There are currently about 3,000 people in ATUs, of which 17% have been resident there for more than 5 years – 43% have been resident for between 1 and 5 years. In addition, 43% of people are more than 50 kilometres from their homes and 72% are being prescribed anti-psychotic medication as a means of containing them, according to the Learning Disability Census 2015. The average cost of being kept in an ATU is £3,500 per week.

Also, the majority of those in ATUs do not have a date set for when they will be transferred back to their community.

Since the Winterbourne View scandal of 2011, where widespread abuse of residents was revealed in a BBC Panorama programme, there have been various initiatives and strategies launched with the aim of reducing the number of people with learning disabilities resident in ATUs, but so far all have failed and numbers have remained broadly the same for the past 5 years. The latest strategy, Homes Not Hospitals, was launched in October 2015.

The 7 Days of Action Campaign’s first blog tells Eden Norris’ story. Eden, 24, has a moderate learning disability and autism and has been in ATUs for the past 7 years – way beyond the average time spent in ATUs.

You can find the full blog and find out more about the campaign here: https://theatuscandal.wordpress.com/ Also, follow the hashtag #7daysofaction on Twitter.