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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:30.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:black">Psychosocial Disability: one of the most misunderstood areas of disability</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #28C4CC 3.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 19.0pt;margin-left:22.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:22.5pt;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:22.5pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:22.5pt;outline:0px">
<i><span style="font-size:15.0pt;color:black">If disability is one of the great human rights challenges of this century, then within this, psychosocial disability remains one of the most challenging and misunderstood areas of disability.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:22.5pt;outline:0px"><i><span style="font-size:15.0pt;color:black">Paul Deany, DRF Program Officer<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px"><em><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Paul Deany spoke on a panel at the 9</span></em><em><sup><span style="font-size:8.0pt;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">th</span></sup></em><em><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">
session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, June 15, 2016. Here are his remarks.
</span></em><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">As a person with bi-polar and someone who has worked in the field of psychosocial disabilities, I believe this is one of the most marginalized areas of disability. Indeed, if disability is one of the great human rights
challenges of this century, then within this, psychosocial disability remains one of the most challenging and misunderstood areas of disability.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">Persons with psychosocial disabilities face many forms of stigma and discrimination, as well as barriers to exercising their civil, economic, social and cultural rights. These barriers are heightened by urbanization,
increasing human insecurity, poverty, natural disasters, migration, hunger and conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">As I will outline, further barriers are posed by
<strong><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">discriminatory legislation and practices depriving persons with psychosocial disabilities of legal capacity and liberty, and by violence, abuse, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment on the basis
of disability.</span></strong><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">Psychosocial disability differs in that it can be episodic, invisible and often not well identified. It may be hidden by individuals or their families out of shame, denial or the fear of being locked up and stripped
of their most basic rights. In countries where persons with psychosocial disabilities are victims of repressive laws, forced incarceration, stigma and systemic abuse, this fear is very real.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">None of this is entirely new. Persons with psychosocial disabilities have been marginalized, shunned and demonized throughout history. We often see psychosocial disability associated with criminality, deviance and
detention. Having a psychosocial disability is still used as grounds for excluding people from entry into countries, including the US, and from other basic freedoms afforded under the disability convention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">Much of the discourse on psychosocial disabilities is also couched in medical and health terms. There is still a strong push from parts of the psychiatric community to view psychosocial disabilities as largely biomedical
and health issues. Many people have expressed strong concerns about the increasing push to over-prescribe anti-psychotic drugs, mood stabilizers and other pharmaceuticals in a well-orchestrated global push to increase medication of mental health problems,
which blatantly promotes an expansionist agenda of the mental health industry and not the rights of individuals.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px"><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">The challenge here is that in many countries,
<strong><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">the system is dominated by the medical model to the detriment of rights and quality of life.</span></strong> Building more psychiatric hospitals is seen as the main solution. Fundamental issues
such as housing, support, jobs, education, voting, and political and legal rights are seldom considered. Persons with psychosocial disabilities are under the domain of psychiatry and in this domain, their rights are abused.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">Of even greater concern are countries which classify psychosocial disability as a separate form of disability, governed under mental health legislation, and then use this legislation to remove many of the rights and
protections guaranteed under the CRPD and instruments, such as the Convention Against Torture.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">Some countries are bringing back retrograde and draconian mental health laws which strip people of their rights. This begs the question: Why is psychosocial disability dealt with by law in many countries as an entirely
different form of disability? It seems we are still heavily influenced by centuries of mainly western legislation and treatment which views psychosocial disability as a separate type of disability.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #28C4CC 3.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 19.0pt;margin-left:22.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:22.5pt;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:22.5pt;outline:0px"><i><span style="font-size:15.0pt;color:black">In many countries where basic rights and services are sorely lacking, we have the situation where persons with psychosocial disabilities
are shackled, chained and incarcerated by the state or their family, against most fundamental rights and laws – sometimes indefinitely.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">This forced and brutal detention is endemic in many less developed and even some fairly well developed countries and has been documented by Human Rights Watch in a diverse range of countries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">In 2006, I met a young woman in the Philippines with Schizophrenia. As a result of her family’s fear of her condition and a lack of community treatment and support options, she had been chained to a post in their kitchen
for 8 years where she ate, slept and went to the toilet. Thankfully, through a community based mental health program, she was eventually freed from this homemade prison and was living a meaningful, productive life when I saw her a year later. This story is
one being repeated in many other countries.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">The Disability Rights Fund has supported numerous organizations of people with psychosocial disabilities in different parts of the world to start to address some of these issues:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:15.75pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">In Asia, we are supporting the
<strong><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Indonesian Mental Health Association</span></strong>, a self-advocacy group which has been raising awareness nationally about the shackling of large numbers of persons with psychosocial disabilities
across the country in sub-standard and inhumane institutions, and which has been fighting for equal rights, such as the right to vote.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:15.75pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">In the Pacific, we are supporting
<strong><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Psychiatric Survivors Association Fiji</span></strong> – the first organization led by persons with psychosocial disabilities in the region. They have been responsible for raising national attention
and the voices of this group as Fiji moves towards CRPD ratification, addressing issues including high suicide rates; eviction from family housing and high levels of community stigma.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:15.75pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo1">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">We are supporting
<strong><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">MindFreedom Ghana</span></strong>, a self-advocacy group who are working to address the situation of people with psychosocial disabilities who are chained and tortured in prayer camps. This situation
was exposed by <a href="https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.hrw.org%2fnews%2f2014%2f03%2f10%2fghana-monitor-mental-health-facilities&c=E,1,mXN1CowSbT7oENXYPIV7up93gPYZF-FxJ2bIRjPDfKybDmhHvmFx3v5a2jmYg6DeyE_v9mSgX9aH-peDSUoohlO9ah_KVPPJYCeZB_Zc5IeVBXIgGdDa-Q,,&typo=1">
<span style="color:#1A0DAB;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in;text-decoration:none">Human Rights Watch</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">And there are more.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:15.75pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Symbol;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">In Africa,
<strong><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Users and Survivors of Psychiatry Kenya</span></strong> has carried out groundbreaking advocacy to review the country’s Mental Health and Legal Aid Bills to address the many ways this legislation
currently discriminates persons with psychosocial disabilities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid #28C4CC 3.0pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 19.0pt;margin-left:22.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:22.5pt;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:22.5pt;outline:0px"><i><span style="font-size:15.0pt;color:black">Globally, there is the CRPD itself and its jurisprudence on Articles 12 and 14, which establish the baseline of full equality and human
dignity and recognize for the first time that mental and emotional suffering or difference of individuals with psychosocial disabilities doesn’t mean other supposedly more rational individuals can assume control over our lives, our bodies or our minds.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
</blockquote>
<p style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:19.15pt;margin-left:0in;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">Serious work is being done in many countries on alternatives to the medical model of mental health, and increasingly users and survivors of psychiatry are leading and collaborating in this work.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px"><strong><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">But much, much more needs to be done to bring persons with psychosocial disabilities onto the
same level as the rest of society</span></strong><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<h3 style="mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:15.0pt;margin-left:0in;line-height:24.75pt;outline:0px;word-spacing:0px">
<span style="font-size:19.5pt;color:black;font-weight:normal">So what needs to happen? Here is my 5-point plan:<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">1.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><strong><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">The global community must act to eliminate the deprivation of legal capacity and liberty of persons with psychosocial disabilities, and
the practices of forced treatment and involuntary commitment to hospitals or institutions. </span></strong><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">These obligations are not progressive; they are immediate and enforceable under CRPD Article 15, Freedom
from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">2.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">We must acknowledge that,
<strong><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">under CRPD Article 12, persons with psychosocial disabilities have the right to equal recognition under the law</span></strong>. It should be the responsibility of UN Department of Social and Economic
Affairs, as part of the CRPD Secretariat, to ensure States know their obligations under CRPD Articles 12, 14 and 15<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">3.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><strong><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">States should move to repeal or change mental health legislation not in line with the CRPD</span></strong><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">.
States should move to have persons with psychosocial disabilities included under unified national disability laws or national health laws which uphold rather than deprive them of their rights.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo3">
<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">4.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">As a person with a psychosocial disability, I note that at conferences and in general, the debate on the treatment of persons with psychosocial disabilities is still led by professionals
and not persons with disabilities themselves. This seems to contradict the central themes of inclusion and participation we have been hearing much about at COSP.
<strong><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">Organizations of persons with psychosocial disabilities should be empowered, especially in less developed countries, to be lead voices and advocate for their rights.</span></strong> This includes
the World Network of Users and Survivors of Psychiatry, who despite being the pre-eminent self-advocacy group for this issue, were not widely consulted in the lead-up to this session.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<![if !supportLists]><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">5.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><![endif]><strong><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0in">We need to break down the ingrained stigma and discrimination against this group</span></strong><span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">
– in the community as a whole, in the media, in the justice system, even in the disability sector and in disability legislation and policy, to ensure that persons with psychosocial disabilities are afforded the same rights as every other human rather than
having these rights be stripped away by governments, laws or professions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">If there is one thing I have learned living with bi-polar and working in this field, it is that the main constraint for persons with psychosocial disabilities is not our disability, but the many barriers societies,
institutions and even States place in front of us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:13.0pt;color:black">So, rather than continually trying to change ourselves, we need to start changing the way that society and States deal with us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=http%3a%2f%2fdisabilityrightsfund.org%2four-impact%2finsights%2fpsychosocial-disability%2f&c=E,1,vh-nNzNH4_NdYdFtM922CCUh2NpX7W_H7p892_H_0XSgS4l1zZ286Fyl0lnjy9pZmjuVpjP9lPmI9u9xq4KSds5S83duVaq411n6vWILf9U,&typo=1">http://disabilityrightsfund.org/our-impact/insights/psychosocial-disability/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
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