In the windowless room where he spends 24 hours a day, lying in the bed he cannot leave, Nicholas Thornton reaches for his laptop and begins to type. It is the only way he can communicate.
The 28-year-old is bedbound, unable to move and unable to speak, the effects of more than 10 years trapped in hospitals and units that cannot care for his needs. Nicholas, who is autistic and has a learning disability, has been moved again and again since he was first sectioned aged 16, ferried between units hundreds of miles from his family’s home in Essex.
