Airbus have had their problems over the years, for sure - but to say they're largely responsible for the decline in hand-flying skills is like arbitrarily blaming Ford for the fact that so few Americans can drive a stickshift - the industry and customers moved in a certain direction, and Airbus (and Boeing, MD etc.) supplied products to fit that demand.
True. But pilot and aircraft are inter-dependent. The aircraft design is clearly to revert to the pilot in the event of a problem.
An inherent assumption in this design is that the pilot is capable to manually fly the aircraft - without warning, at cruise altitudes, and with degraded systems or data. Increasingly, this assumption may not be entirely valid. What training is required by the operator? What is covered in the sim? Is regular maintenance of manual flying skills permitted by the operator?
Truth is often the first casualty of war. And it may be hear with the lawyers circling and large sums at stake.
However we need to ask ourselves if something has fallen into a crack somewhere between the designer / manufacturer, and the pilots. If there is such a crack, it is only a matter of time before someone else falls into it.