After decades of oppression we believe that disabled people must be afforded self determination from the grass roots level. “Nothing About Us Without Us” must become a reality.
No Longer will we tolerate large disability charities which see us as nothing more than marketable commodities from which to make profits for their own benefit speaking for us and deciding our futures. We expect a Labour Party which claims to support disabled people’s rights to ensure that it is our voices that are listened to and not the empty voices of our oppressors. Without this guarantee DPAC cannot approve of the disability policies of any political party.
DPAC priorities for setting Mental Health Disability Policies.
We deplore the appropriation of the Recovery Model by statutory services and government departments in order to justify the withdrawal of services and benefits from people who need them.
Compulsory MH Training for Professionals in Various Fields
1. Mental health
training should be compulsory for all health care professionals, including
doctors and nurses, and suicide awareness training should be given to all
health care professionals. Such training should be kept up to date.
2. All Police Forces
should have full mental health awareness training, stop using section 136, and
acknowledge that custody suites and lock-ups in police cells are not safe
places.
3. Mental health
awareness training and crisis awareness training should be available for all
teaching staff in primary and secondary schools, and further education
institutions.
4. A person suffering
from mental distress should be treated with respect, courtesy, dignity, and
consideration at all times as should and their families and friends.
Treatment
Changes
5. We demand the abolition of forced
treatment and Compulsory Treatment Orders (CTOs).
6. All treatment should
be with the full agreement of the person being treated and with their full
understanding of the side effects of treatment, both pharmaceutical and
psychological.
7. .We demand the right
to refuse treatment as it is ratified under the United Nations Convention
Rights People with Disabilities (UNCRPD)
8. .We want recognition
of the link between abuse and trauma, and mental distress. The British Psychological
Society has already made this link.
9. .We demand the
recognition that child abuse prevention is also mental distress prevention.
10. We want the abolition
of the medical model of mental distress to be replaced with an acceptance that
mental distress is part of the human condition and is a normal response to
adverse events and circumstances. Appropriate care and support should be the
right for all people suffering from mental distress.
11. Long term
psychological treatments should be provided freely to all who need them and
talking therapies should not be restricted to short term interventions. We
recognise that not everyone wants talking treatments and this should be
respected.
12. The person
experiencing mental distress should decide their care and always have their
wishes respected.
13. There should be a
recognition that the use of alcohol and drugs are a form of self medication for
many in mental distress. Drugs should therefore be decriminalised.
14. .Access to detox and
drug rehab programmes should be available to everyone.
15. .We demand
recognition that many social values that are common place, such as competition
being intrinsic to human relationships, are erroneous and cause harm to
people’s mental health.
16. Bereavement
counselling should be made available for all children who lose a parent or
supporting person.
Financial
Needs – Individual and Other Support
17. We demand recognition
that the WCA and PIP assessment processes are detrimental to people’s mental
health and should be scrapped. The money saved by not paying Private Companies
to carry out these assessments should be re-invested into better services.
18. We demand guaranteed
financial security and appropriate housing for everyone experiencing mental distress.
19. No aspect of the
social security system should cause distress or deterioration in a claimant’s
mental health condition.
20. Funding should be
provided for Crisis Care to be made available for help and support 24 hours a
day, 365 days of the year.
21. Funding should be
made available for the setting up of Crisis Houses as safe spaces. Access to
these should be every person’s right and should include ‘sitters’ who will be
there to support people throughout these times.
22. We want hospital beds
to be replaced with beds in settings similar to domestic environments.
23. More provision of
services for children and young adults. 1 in 10 children are being denied
mental health service support which is having a huge impact on the family and
schools.
24. Concessionary travel
passes should be made available to all people living with mental distress to
enable independence in the community and to attend appointments with health
care professionals, thus aiding mental wellbeing.
25. We want special
support centres for young men who are suicidal and a paradigm shift away from
the “norms” which are set as ideals of masculinity and may contribute to the
high rate of suicide in young men.
26. .Funding should be
made available for research into mental health care that is based on a Social
Model of mental distress; such funding should at least equal the current
amount of money available for pharmaceutical
research.
27. .We demand the
provision of special support for people with mental distress to ensure their
children remain with them as a family.
28. We demand a holistic
approach to care – where a person has both a physical and a mental health
problem, such impairments should be treated equally with respect and with
dignity and with full understanding that a physical impairment can impact on a
mental health impairment and vice versa.
29. We want specialist
support to be made available for ALL armed forces veterans who experience
mental distress and for housing to be made available to them.
30. We deplore the
underfunding of mental health services in the NHS and the current practice of
discharging people with mental health problems from secondary care into primary
care where their needs cannot be met. These services should be properly funded.
Other
31. Any crime against
someone with a mental health condition should be treated as a hate crime.
32. We want an ongoing
campaign to end all bullying in schools and work places and within families and
general society where such bullying is linked to mental distress.
33. Action should be
taken to end the ongoing discrimination against LGBT people as such
discrimination can lead to mental distress.
Further
Investigations Needed
34. We demand a full
investigation into the effects of long term use of psychiatric medications and
demand that mental health professionals treat reports of side effects of
medication seriously.
35. We want a full
investigation into the appropriateness of the continuous use of medication as
the main form of treatment for people in mental distress.
36. We want a full
investigation into why so many people from BME communities are being diagnosed
with a mental health condition.
37. We want an
investigation into the harmful effects of E.C.T.
38. We demand an inquiry
into the success or otherwise of the use of personal budgets for day care
provision for people living with mental health problems.
39. We demand a full
public inquiry into the significantly shortened life expectancy of people with
mental health conditions and a full report produced with recommendations which
should be implemented.
Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)
@dis_ppl_protest
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