http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IKL005tzBsU/SVT7HL1p89I/AAAAAAAAADw/MMkv74Jp-cc/S1600-R/unheard.JPG
It seems that political advocacy groups have been successful in persuading President Obama to follow the proposed practice of closing more mental institutions.
This article describes how this is occurring in the state of Georgia. The first thing that I recognize about this article is the terms that are used, which provide the reader with an understanding of how advocates traditionally explain public policy.
Unfortunately, the terms are very narrow and appeal, mainly to those who are involved in the political process. Among the population of persons diagnosed with mental illness and developmental disabilities those who have an interest in politics make up the smallest population of people whom the policies affect worst. This is truer of this group than any other discriminated group that has some type of political representation.
http://www.yorku.ca/ycpe/images/free_speech.jpg
What the efforts of deinstitutionalization will do within the current political environment is tagging and parole a much larger group of people and at the same time provide fewer opportunities for people who need the basic essentials to survive and put them in more situations where abuse is likely.
The people who are affected worst by these policies and laws have practically no interest in politics, don't vote, have a great deal of difficulty with managing their finances, and are blamed and bullied more than anyone else in our culture.
This group is seen as irresponsible, blaming them is very comfortable, and public policy makes this convenient.
Advocate groups which encourage what is described as "the recovery model" (and often disability advocates as well) has no time or interest in this group and will not take them into consideration when accepting the compromises the political system demands.
The truth of this matter will never be heard. Nothing has changed in the way this group is treated. Restraint and seclusion are encouraged within the very policies which claim to discourage them, and there are fewer opportunities for reporting abuse than ever before.
In a very practical sense mental institutions are haunted by the generations of souls that have perished (sentenced to a life without hope) pursuant to the common attitudes behind these walls. Unfortunately, those ghosts are not confined and the current efforts for decreasing institutionalization will encourage more places where the cursed attitudes promote abuse.
http://www.contrastcreative.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/unheard-voices_t1.jpg
As with most policies the way this promotes supposed liberties for one group of people will be advertised and the group affected worst by it, which is traditionally forgotten will not be heard from or considered. The only reason that such compromises are seen as necessary is due to the way that some victims in our society are seen as the necessary waste.
Quotes such as these;
"When the people fear the government there is tyranny, when the government fears the people there is liberty."
— Thomas Jefferson
"Tyranny anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere."
— Alex Storozynski (The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution)
are now being used more for promoting the sustainability of the United States' mythical middle class. The rest of the public with fewer resources is seen as disposable. Many people who think they have escaped being part of this population will eventually discover otherwise.
And this attitude isn't just happening in the 'states. Despite new legislation (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/15/contents) to provide support for people with autism - the only UK act to identify a specific disability - funding for disabled people is being cut across the board, and those of us whose disability is 'hidden' don't stand a chance of getting help.
Posted by: Al Feersum | October 27, 2010 at 11:38 AM