Absconding from hospitals: a means of resistance?

Abstract

Accessible summary • We have studied absconding from the old long stay hospitals for people with learning disabilities. • We have looked at many old records about absconding and talked to those who ran away to find out why they chose to do so. • The evidence of the research we have gathered suggests that absconding was more of a problem for authorities than they admitted. This is important as it shows that people were not just passive victims of the long stay hospital system. Summary The history of long stay hospitals for people with learning disabilities has revealed that residents had ways of resisting their incarceration (Mitchell D, Traustadottir R, Chapman R, Townson L, Ingham N and Ledger S (editors) (2006) Exploring experiences of advocacy by people with learning disabilities: testimonies of resistance). This paper explores one aspect of this resistance, ‘absconding’, as unauthorised leave from hospital was termed. It draws on institutional records and oral histories, from two hospitals in South-East England. It seeks to show why and how residents escaped, how institutions responded and how absconding was presented publicly.