Campaigners are threatening legal action to force the government to publish figures on the numbers of people with autism and learning disabilities killed by coronavirus.
Activists Dr George Julian, Simone Aspis, Mark Neary and Dr Sara Ryan are demanding answers.
Lawyers Rook Irwin Sweeney are representing the activists.
The campaign image used by the activists
Threat of court action
They have written to NHS England, health secretary Matt Hancock, NHS Digital, the UK Statistics Authority and the Care Quality Commission.
In the letter the campaigners say they want the authorities to publish “accurate and reliable” data on coronavirus deaths.
They are threatening court action to get the figures.
By Wednesday evening (20 May 2020) the campaigners had raised £7,760 of a £10,000 target on a CrowdJustice page to fund their fight.
On Monday (18 May 2020), NHS England published two sets of statistics on coronavirus-related deaths of people with learning disabilities.
They show 467 people died between 16 March and 10 May.
Those who died tested positive or were considered to have had coronavirus.
Those with autism and learning disabilities ‘acutely vulnerable’
Professor Chris Hatton specialises in disability at Lancaster University.
On Twitter he highlighted that the figures do not include people with autism who don’t have a learning disability.
Based on his calculations, Hatton suggested people with autism and learning disabilities were “four to five times more likely to die a Covid 19-related death in hospital” than would be expected.
It’s feared those with autism and learning disabilities are acutely vulnerable. Many live in care and have underlying health problems.
George accused the authorities of offering no more than “cursory” thought to the care of people with autism and learning disabilities.
Autism Eye contacted the Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England. They did not respond.
You can view the campaigners’ CrowdJustice page here: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/every-death-counts/
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Published: 21 May 2020
