Meet the man finally free after a decade trapped in hospitals due to his autism

The Independent

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.

Transcript

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.

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