Family trying to make sense of ruling
She hasn’t slept for two days. Nor has Colm, her husband.
They’re not just exhausted. There’s also shock, disbelief, upset and trauma as a result of Wednesday’s High Court ruling.
“I didn’t sleep the night before the judgement and I couldn’t sleep last night because of the judgement and I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight,” said Annette.
This is after more than two and half years of fighting the State for what she and Colm believe their autistic son, Lewis, is entitled to.
Friends and neighbours tried to comfort Annette and Colm when they returned to their home in Phibsboro, north Dublin, after the ruling on Wednesday.
“When they were gone we were left trying to make sense of the ruling,” said Annette.
The court found that Lewis was not entitled to a place in a specialist autism centre in Bangor, Wales - as the O’Carolans wanted - and that the Woodlawn centre in north Dublin fulfilled the State’s constitutional obligations. Annette and Colm were still trying to make sense of the ruling in their home yesterday. Clutching the judgement, and surrounded by their own files and copies of the State’s arguments, they point to photographs they took of Woodlawn.
“All our experts said Woodlawn isn’t and never could be an autistic centre,” said Colm, who added that Woodlawn was a respite centre and that there were a broad range of people resident there. He said it was noisy and located between two industries and was 150 yards from the Dublin to Belfast road. As he talks, Colm pops in and out of the sitting room.
He’s keeping an eye on Lewis in the back room and answering the seemingly endless calls on their mobile phone, from friends and the media.
Colm and Annette wanted to correct an impression of Lewis presented in dramatic television pictures which showed the damage to their home caused by their son.
“He’s burned a lot of that frustration,” said Colm.
“He hasn’t broken anything since. I’ve plastered the walls. He’s in a calmer environment now.
“We don’t want him to be associated with damage. That’s not the issue.”
Annette said Lewis was not ‘disturbed’. He was reacting out of frustration of his inability to communicate.
When she visited Woodlawn, Annette was told medication was a feature of the regime and they would have to comply with that.
“He is not psychiatrically ill. He does not need medication. He needs proper intervention,” said Annette.
Colm said there were no autism staff in Woodlawn, only care assistants and psychiatric nurses. He said Woodlawn would be the first step into placing Lewis in a psychiatric institution.
They are resolved to try and get the money to find a place in Britain for Lewis.
“Our family and friends are very supportive. We’ll get a service in the UK, if it takes that,” said Annette.
Colm adds: “I cannot put my child into a psychiatric service, that’s disguised as otherwise, and I will not. I will die first. I would die first.”
