Nick Pierce has lived the last 30 years completely dependent on his mother. Now he is undergoing this remarkable and dramatic change thanks to a change in his drug treatment. His mother, Diane Simpson, is having to re-learn her instinct to always be ready to step and is learning to let go.
After leaving school Nick Pierce went though a series of special units where he learnt how to keep himself clean, shopping and other daily skills. He did an number of YTS courses, mainly involving gardening, and very elementary things. Inside he was frustrated and angry at not being able to speak to people in the way he wanted, his delivery was slow and stood out. Some people found this funny but others, who tried not to be unkind, often just ignored him.
Nick was bullied quite a lot because of his supposed learning difficulties which his mother, Diane Simpson, was aware of. At one time he found a job as a packer in a factory. At first Nick was pleased because this was a proper job, rather than a disability placement. But "it quickly became evident that part of the package was really being the village idiot... And Nick stuck that for 8 years."
Nick's drug enforced solitude caused him to become very depressed - something his mother, family and friends have only just discovered now that Nick can communicate. One day Nick spotted an article in the paper about an operation for epilepsy. "I showed it to my GP and I said 'this is a cure here'. I complained, because I was miserable, that something was wrong. .. I felt that it was ever such a big problem." The doctor wrote to Manchester and Liverpool and when he was assessed for the operation the professor in charge changed his medication.
"One day he cracked a joke... Everyone thought he must have heard it..." A while later Nick felt he could make the journey to Liverpool hospital on his own. Diane, still in smother-mother mode, insisted on going half way with him but he made it all the way home in one piece. The final clue to his family that Nick was changing was when he came home saying he wanted to do a course in Sociology at college. "Putting the 3 things together... made us realise something was happening. The next time Nick went to hospital, I went with him and asked if this was a wonder drug he's on." The hospital were as surprised by Nick's progress and wondered if it was the removal if Nick's old medication that might be causing the changes.
Nick decided to see the psychologists because he wanted to take up full time education and he wanted to make sure things were all right before he started. "They ran every test in the book on him and Nick has no learning difficulty at all." Now Nick has a lot of catching up to do because since the age of 5 his education was restricted but this year he is taking 3 GCSEs. He also has to catch up with the social skills though, learning to mix with people and the art of conversation.
Diane feels angry about what has happened to her son "but I think it's destructive and it would be very easy... to become bitter. All of us have got to move forward... I suppose my feelings are 'thank goodness we found this out now rather than when Nick was 50'." Nick is far happier in his relationship with his mother and how it has changed. He understands her better and is more able to help. Plus he is more argumentative, in a positive way. "I've got so many feelings in me and I like to listen to so much... Every little thing has grown so its quite lively really."
Diane loves her new assertive son. "I love being contradicted. I love being argued with... To have somebody who never... ventured an opinion, hold their hand up... I love it."
