Couldn't You Just Call Me John?

An accessible, practical guide to learning disabilities and autism.

As well as being a must-read for teachers, classroom assistants and other professionals whose jobs bring them into contact with children with learning disabilities and their families, it is well worth the attention of the rest of us.

The book examines how society looked after people in the past and how they are supported in the present. It serves as a valuable resource for anyone trying to navigate their way around the care provision services. For those with just an interest in the subject it shines a light on hidden histories and reveals present day stories that would otherwise never be told.

The book is hugely informative and a well-timed publication which adds to the current debate about how we care for the most vulnerable people in our communities. Remarkable first-hand accounts by people who have been impacted by disability and care provision give emotive portrayals of of the realities they face. The personal accounts are filled with dignity, love and the significance of human bonds. Though not always easy reading, the accounts are ultimately up-lifting.

The author spoke with over 300 people included experts from the NHS, the social services and schools. Above all he listened to the people with learning disabilities and autism themselves. Virtually every one of them told him that no one understood them or what their daily life was like. He was told that he had to tell their story - or the many different stories, because they are all very different individuals.

The reader will become aware of the author's own emotions while he visited different sites, and the overwhelming sense from so many of those he interviewed, of their desire to participate more fully in a world which they feel is entirely ignorant of them.

The author became discouraged when he started researching about people with autism and learning difficulties, to be told that such people were now called 'service users'. When a lovely man with autism was asked how he would like to be known, he said - after some thought "Couldn't you just call me John?".