Human Rights and Life in the Community
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Although the provision of community-based services is of crucial importance, action must also be taken to address the significant and widespread barriers to people with mental health problems and/or intellectual disabilities being included in society as equal citizens. Set out below are some examples of the major barriers to their social inclusion:
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| • | Institutionalisation and segregation |
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In many parts of the world the lack of community based services means that people with mental health problems and/or intellectual disabilities are often placed in long-stay and remote institutions Click here. In other parts of the world, people with mental health problems and/or intellectual disabilities may be neglected on the streets or kept at home by their relatives, who are either seeking to protect them from potential abuse, or wish to avoid bringing shame on the family. |
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| • | Stigma and discrimination |
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The stigma attached to, and prejudice against, people with mental health problems and/or intellectual disabilities is widespread and pervasive. These attitudes can lead to discrimination, which means an unfair treatment of a person or persons based on prejudice. Discrimination can have a major impact on all aspects of people’s lives ranging from a limited or no access to education or employment, assumptions that such individuals not capable of making decisions for themselves (for example potential employers believing that they are not competent to work; officials assuming that they lack the capacity to vote in public elections) to local communities campaigning to prevent people living in their neighbourhood because the ‘mentally ill’ are dangerous. (See Thornicroft G. 2006 Shunned: Discrimination against People with Mental Illness, Oxford University Press, Oxford, Sayce, L., (2000) From Psychiatric Patient to Citizen – Overcoming Discrimination and Social Exclusion, Palgrave). |
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| • | Abuse of Guardianship |
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Both the United Nations and the Council of Europe have highlighted their concerns about the serious human rights violations that can arise through the use of guardianship. Guardianship is a system in which a court appoints a guardian to make decisions on behalf of a person held incapable of making decisions for him or herself. In some jurisdictions individuals considered to be ‘incapacitated’ are placed under ‘plenary guardianship’, giving the appointed guardian wide-ranging powers with little or no safeguards for the individual concerned. These powers include control over the person’s finances and the power to decide where the person should live. In many cases the person subject to guardianship no longer has the right to marry, vote, or work. |
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