Just
because it shows less to strangers doesn't mean it's not there. While
Obama's
executive order came down, I sat in a hospital emergency room
waiting for a bed in the psych unit. I had just explained to about
five different doctors the Bad Thoughts that led me to the hospital.
No,
I don't have a representative payee. For all intents and purposes, I
appear independent. Does this mean I should not care? For my friends
who have representative payees, and for the continued stigma against
having mental health needs, I do care.
My
friend consoled me as I broke down on the phone before going to the
hospital, and told me it was brave to get this kind of help with all
the stigma that surrounds it. While my friend has not reached this
level of mental health crisis before, they know all too well the
dialogue surrounding mental health. Uncontrollable thoughts
raced through my head as I waited on the chair, mixed with
frustration at my brain being out of whack again. The thoughts that
drove me there were far more intense than usual.
I
missed most of the initial window in which to respond to Obama's
executive order because I had no internet access. I relied on phone
conversations with friends, individual therapy sessions, playing
cards with fellow patients, mealtimes, naps, and books to pass the
time.
***
The
history of people with mental health needs is one of rights denied.
Institutions for us are still a fairly recent history, and a failed
project. Do we have the supports we need in the community yet?
Absolutely not. About our rights: should we be able to own guns?
Obama's
executive order affects not just those with mental health needs, but anyone
receiving SSA with a representative payee who controls their money.
Obama's executive order is trying a one size fits all policy instead
of individually tailoring background checks to search for patterns in
past behavior of wanting to hurt people (I
cannot propose an adequate policy for those with suicidal ideation in
their history, such as mine, even though I do not own a gun and do
not want to because I do not need one. I grapple with this.) The
answer to should we own guns? depends
specifically on the person. People with mental health needs are
people, after all.
***
I
managed to convince one of the psychiatrists at the hospital that the
Murphy Bill needed significant reform or outright rejection. I have
talked about the Murphy Bill extensively in the past (here's
an article on it.) I
have
always worried about it. I am a person who needs psychiatric care to
thrive. I have accepted this about myself long ago. I
want my treatment to be as private as I choose. Already some big companies are
slipping up with HIPAA violations. If enough action is not taken,
soon it will become a moot point.
When
you have mental health needs, some people are determined that you
should make a full recovery for the sake of society itself and then
mock you for getting help. It is okay for recovery to not be your
goal – maybe your goal, like mine, is just to learn coping skills –
but
regardless, quality treatment should be accessible to everyone
at their own pace.
The
Murphy Bill will it make it harder for people to willingly access
treatment if they know their information is vulnerable. The Murphy
Bill's solution is to simply force treatment and then strip us of our
rights and protection against abuses.
Call
or write your representative today. Tweet
at your legislators. Find your rep at
http://www.house.gov/representatives/
and
then use the generic contact us form. Call to the Capitol Switchboard
at 202-224-3121 and ask for your representative and ask them to
oppose the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act (HR 2646).
***
Some
people are calling for the return of “asylums.” It will be
horrifying to see what legal loopholes they try to uncover in their
quest. They are using people like me to further their ideas. They are
saying people who end up hospitalized, especially those who
experience repeat hospitalizations, are cause for a so-called safe
place to keep us (but institutions are not safe; take
a look at this history, no matter how altruistic the intentions,
they limit freedom and are not safe).
They would rather not fight for
community change and community funds. They are talking about our
cost, our safety, our inability to care for ourselves, our pitiful
state, our drain on society.
***
The
Murphy Bill and Obama's executive order generalizes people with
mental health needs and uses us to create public fear. A return to
asylums is unthinkable.
Imagine a world that is already hard enough to
navigate because of mental health needs. Now imagine everyone blames
you for mass shootings. Imagine that someone could reveal your
secrets to people they see fit, even if it's not an emergency. “But
not you personally! I don't think of you as mentally ill.” Yes, me personally. I am someone who
has mental health needs. Just because it shows less to strangers
doesn't mean it's not there.
The
sections become shorter as I have less and less to say, recycling
words and trying to convince you that an entire group of people's
humanity is worth respecting.
***
Further reading links to come
