For over ten years, Nicholas Thornton was confined to dementia care homes, psychiatric units, and A&E wards due to a lack of proper autism support. This took a serious toll on his health, eventually rendering the 29-year-old unable to speak. Now, a year after The Independent covered his story, Nicholas has a place of his own and has regained his ability to speak. Rebecca Thomas reports.
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00:00Today we're outside of the home of Nicholas Thornton.
00:03Just one year ago, Nicholas was incarcerated in hospital.
00:07He'd spent ten years going in and out of places that couldn't support his needs.
00:12He was one of the more than 2,000 people with learning disabilities and autism
00:17who had wrongly been admitted to hospital and forced to stay there for years.
00:22I've not seen a friend for seven years.
00:26Sensory overload and can have autism meltdowns.
00:38But now, following a story by The Independent and Channel 4 News,
00:42Nicholas has been placed into his own home
00:45and is able to explore an independent life and a freedom he's never had for ten years.
00:52The hospital was extremely overloading and everything,
00:58so I wasn't able to process, to be able to talk, if that makes sense.
01:05And then with all the stress as well from what people were doing to me
01:14and being suffocated,
01:20sorry, being suffocated and being forced to drag myself on the floor,
01:31and all the noises that pointed at me, being punched.
01:38All of a sudden I didn't get to see my friends anymore
01:43and I only got to see my mum once a year as well.
01:47And...
01:52Sorry.
01:56But I...
01:59I didn't get to see my mum or my brother and...
02:06It's hard to explain.
02:08My mobility got worse and worse over time
02:12because I didn't have the physio I needed at all.
02:15It just shouldn't happen, should it?
02:19And it's not just me it's happening to.
02:23That's the thing though.
02:25It's not an isolated case, it's happening to so many others as well.
02:31But it shouldn't be happening.
02:33It's just so different, the talking and even the way that you can manage your own emotions.
02:41We will, if something is worrying you, you'll talk about it now, won't you?
02:47It's like I have my life back again.
02:54Sorry.
02:55For so long I didn't...
02:57I was just stuck in the hospital.
03:01I was stuck in the hospital and the staff would...
03:07It's hard to...
03:10It's hard to explain but...
03:14I just have...
03:16I have my freedom back again.
03:19Sorry.
03:23Sorry.
03:24It's...
03:29I've been able to actually go outside and...
03:34do things like people should be doing.
03:40I'm hopefully going to be doing more stuff.
03:44I want to be going to college as well.
03:48I went out the other night at two in the morning.
03:54Did you?
03:55Yeah.
03:56And I could actually look at the stars and the moon and everything.
04:01I haven't been able to do that for years.