01/09/2026
Making training mandatory was never the end goal.
It was the beginning.
When I started campaigning after Oliver died, I wanted health and social care professionals to understand something very simple:
Behind every diagnosis is a person.
A person who may communicate differently.
A person who may experience the hospital environment differently.
A person whose behaviour may be telling you something important.
A person who may need reasonable adjustments to be able to understand, communicate and be understood.
Oliver needed professionals to listen to him.
He needed them to listen to his family.
He needed them to understand his autism and learning disability.
He needed reasonable adjustments.
And above all, he needed people to recognise that what was happening to him was not simply "challenging behaviour".
The fact that learning disability and autism training is now a statutory requirement is an enormous step forward.
But I will keep asking the difficult question:
What happens after the training?
Does it change the way a clinician listens?
Does it change the way distress is understood?
Does it change prescribing decisions?
Does it change whether reasonable adjustments are actually made?
Does it change outcomes for people with a learning disability and autistic people?
Because Oliver's legacy cannot simply be a training course that people complete.
It has to be a change in practice.
That is the standard I will continue to push for.
For Oliver.
And for every person who enters a health or care setting and deserves to be heard, understood and safe.
