A mum whose autistic son has been locked up for 15 years in a variety of psychiatric units alongside criminals has finally won her fight for him to be freed.
Ryan Addison, 32, was diagnosed with schizophrenia aged 17 and detained in a mental health hospital after harming himself.
Hull Live reports that Ryan's diagnosis was changed to autism in 2018 but, despite this, Ryan has never been release to be looked after within the community and has spent almost half his life being locked away alongside dangerous criminals.
His mother Sharon Clarke has fought a gruelling battle to get her son the correct care that he needs and has now been told that he will be moving out of the medium-security Humber Centre in Willerby, near Hull, next week and moved to his own home where he will have carers to assist him.
Sharing her happiness at this long-awaited news on her blog, The Life of Ryan, she wrote: "I would like to share with you all, that one week today on November 8, 2021, my son Ryan will be leaving the Humber Centre for Forensic Psychiatry and he will be moving into his own home in the community. His main nurse emailed me to let me know. How do l feel? Well let me see… Ecstatic!!!!!"
Sharon has been campaigning for several years to get her son freed - after being left distraught that he is housed alongside some of the country's most dangerous criminals, despite having never committed a crime.
She thanked the MPs and charities who helped to get to this point, and his main nurse 'G' and the core team, before revealing that she'd been shopping for things to make Ryan's new home more homely.
He will be cared for by carers from Sugarman Health, a private care provider, that are chosen by his mum.
Sharon wrote: "On Saturday my hubby and l hit the shops to buy curtains, curtain poles, a family collage, lamps, canvas paintings, and a rug for his hallway.
"It was so good to buy these things, knowing they are for Ryan’s new home. I’m happy that he will not be so restricted, as my son has known only restrictive practices for nearly half of his young life.
"We now have the job of dressing his home this week to make it feel and look like a home, not a psychiatric hospital."
She said in the blog that the process of speeding up the process of discharge of patients into the community needs to be "speeded up" having been told 18 months ago that Ryan would be freed.
"I have said this before, but the process of discharge into the community must be speeded up considerably. It is nearly 18 months since release was promised, and 12 months since Sugarman Health were appointed as his community care team.
"If we hadn’t continually pushed and nagged, (you have to do this if you want any action) plus doing a lot of work ourselves, Ryan would still be nowhere near his freedom date.
"Peter and l are not professionals, we are every day people, but we would have had all this sorted in a few months, not 1.5 years!"
Ryan was allowed a community leave visit last week and was taken to see him new home, which Sharon said overlooks the countryside and described as "perfect" for him.
"Today Ryan’s team brought him out on community leave, which was postponed from last week. Ryan was in a good mood, he had his usual visit to the bakery for his steak bake, then went for a walk.
"It started to rain, so instead Ryan went to see his new home. He was thrilled!
"I am sure he will be so happy there. Peter took him in because he needed the toilet, and he could hear him laughing and whooping with joy!
"Ryan was quite tired as he had been up early, so after about half an hour he wanted to go for a drive (he will have been asleep in minutes!). This means the visit was quite short, but I didn’t mind as everything had gone so well.
"It is lovely to see him smiling and happy! He was so busy looking around he didn’t pay me much attention, but I didn’t mind one bit.
"As long as he knows that I am there if he needs me. It also feels really odd that this was the last time I shall arrange a visit to see my son through the hospital."
She added: "Wow, my boy is coming home, and it’s a great feeling."
To read Sharon's blog click here.
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