We are delighted to announce that following the sad and untimely death of Prof Jim Mansell, a large number of friends, relatives, and colleagues as well as individuals who had never met Jim, donated a significant amount of money, just over £3,700 in total. It has been agreed by United Response and The Challenging Behaviour Foundation that this will be used towards producing the film “Everybody Matters“; a project dear to Jim’s heart and in which he himself participated. It is hoped that the final film will raise awareness and demonstrate that individuals with learning disabilities, whose behaviour is described as challenging, can be successfully supported to have good lives within their local community.
A training resource pack will also be developed and information about the film including a 10 minute trailer is now available. http://www.challengingbehaviour.org.uk/strategy-group/everybody-matters-film/everybody-matters.html
The film follows on from the abuse highlighted by BBC’s Panorama in 2011, when Jim was quoted as saying:
“there’s no doubt that we need to take action to stop these kinds of services being used in this way as dumping grounds as an alternative to developing proper local services for people”
Jim’s contribution to improving the lives of some of the most marginalised, vulnerable and excluded individuals has been immense. We would also like to thank all of those who generously gave donations and made the completion of this project possible.