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How Northern Ireland can avoid making a big “mental capacity law” mistake

This blog post is co-written with Michael Bach. We presented ideas on how Northern Ireland needs to rethink the approach to legal capacity in March, at a conference organised by Mencap Northern Ireland and the Northern Irish Association for Mental Health.

Independent living is the UK Government’s responsibility

In an article published on Monday in the Guardian newspaper in the UK, Beverly Angell explains how her 54-year old sister has lived in a 26-bedded residential care home run by the charity Scope for the last 38 years.

Governments must open places of detention for inspection

MDAC continued its advocacy calling for all closed institutions to be opened to independent monitoring inspections at a recent conference of the Oganization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, pointing out that people with disabilities are also deprived of their liberty in psychiatric and social care institutions.

European Commission funding of disability segregation and abuse breaches international law

Al Jazeera's documentary 'Europe's Hidden Shame' documents that 30,000 people with disabilities are still warehoused in Romanian institutions, in breach of international law. It’s a scandal that their segregation and abuse is being funded by the European Commission. MDAC calls for compensation and reparation for the victims.

Substandard clinical practice as a human rights abuse

This is the last in my blog trio about Butabika hospital, Uganda’s premier psychiatric facility, which I visited last Thursday (3 April 2014). The first blog post focused on lawlessness and the second on women. This blog post focuses on clinical practice and human rights.

Degradation of women in Uganda’s main psychiatric hospital

This is 2 out of a 3 part series about Butabika hospital, Uganda’s premier psychiatric facility, which I visited on 3 April 2014. The first post laid out how people are admitted and forcibly treated outside the ambit of a law, and how therefore people are unlawfully detained. The most memorable thing about the visit was the litany of gender-based discrimination which I saw, and that’s what I want to talk about in this blog post.

Uganda’s mental health system and the rule of no law

This is No. 1 in a trio of OliverTalks posts about Butabika hospital, Uganda’s premier psychiatric facility, which Oliver visited with colleagues last Thursday. It lays out how people are admitted and forcibly treated outside the ambit of a law, and how therefore people are unlawfully detained.

Children with mental disabilities: Too ‘small’ to be seen by the law?

Last week the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution reaffirming that children must be guaranteed access to justice when their rights are violated. MDAC welcomes the resolution and is currently working on a major project on Access to Justice for Children with Mental Disabilities in Europe.

Democracy? Not for people with mental disabilities

This Sunday, over 55,000 Hungarian citizens living in Hungary will not be allowed to choose their leaders at the national elections. They’re not criminals, they’re not migrants and they’re not children. It is like not counting the votes of the entire population of Szombathely.

MDAC launches major report on decision-making rights for Kenyans with mental disabilities

This morning in Nairobi, MDAC launched a major in-depth study on disability and decision-making in Kenya, the first report in Africa which brings out the voices of people with disabilities themselves.

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