23 April 2014

Independent living is the UK Government’s responsibility

In an article published in the Guardian newspaper on Monday in the UK, Beverley Angell argues against the closure of an institution where her sister with a disability has lived for 38 years, fearing that some residents will become homeless. In this blog piece, Oliver argues that the UK Government must take responsibility for ensuring independent living for all.
18 March 2014

Psychiatry, medication and human rights

The Global Movement for Mental Health could make a bridge between the public health and disability rights worlds. Aligning themselves with disability rights means rethinking views such as “I can cure mental illness therefore it is not a disability.” In the second of a three-part series I discuss how community living with supports has become a human right that should reshape the public mental health landscape. The series is based on a chapter I wrote in ‘Torture in Healthcare Settings: Reflections on the Special Rapporteur on Torture’s 2013 Thematic Report’.
12 November 2013

Abandoned with bedbugs in West Bengal

“My father brought me here 16 years ago”, said Sanjaya, a 29-year old woman, in Bengali. Her family appear to have freaked out when, at the age of 13, she started having mental health problems. Instead of getting some support, they dumped her into the Lumbini Park institution, where she was robbed of her youth, her education, and her safety. Detained there for the past 16 years without committing any crime, she was allowed out for a day two years ago. She returned to her family who had abandoned her. “I went and cried. I wanted to stay, but my family didn’t want me”, she told me.
3 September 2013

Why should the United States ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?

3 September 2013, Budapest. In his latest post, our Executive Director gives his alternative to Secretary of State John Kerry's speech.
7 June 2013

A social paradigm of mental health

7 June 2013. New post on OliverTalks: Psychiatry should step out of the bubble of mental health and join the disability rights world where the right to live in the community means more than access to psychiatric treatments.

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