Recommended:
Written pieces, talks and poems:
A talk on Freedom given by Irit Shimrat which is as relevant and powerful today as it was when she first gave it.
A podcast from Dorothy Gould about the review of the Mental Health Act 1983 which has paved the way for ‘reform’ of the Act.
An article from Transforming Communities for Inclusion (TCI) on shocking abuse at the Edenfield Centre run by the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust in the north of England and on the vital need to transform the whole mental health system.
An easy read PowerPoint presentation from Jacqui Lovell about basic human rights.
They is mad in asylum: a poem from Jacqui Lovell, written in the ‘voice’ of a woman with whom she has worked in the UK’s asylum system. The word ‘asylum’ is used in two senses: to represent this woman’s traumatic experiences of asylum when she came seeking sanctuary in this country - including as a lesbian - and her traumatic experiences of being placed against her will in a mental health ‘asylum’.
Films, music and art:
A film clip from Ruth Dixon about the strong need to rethink the use of psychiatric labels.
A webinar on Disrupting Colonialism & Biomedical Reductionism in Mental Health. This comes from Transforming Communities for Inclusion (TCI). It addresses a crucial issue: the growing global dominance of the biomedical model and the need to protect human rights in the face of that. The webinar also includes examples of community action and resistance.
The musical work of Ren: about personal experiences of trauma and of the mental health system.
Art work from Mad in America: drawing on creative arts as a powerful way of sharing lived experience.
A film from John Evans, one of the five people who started the Independent Living movement in England. He has used the film to describe how the movement began, how it then led to the creation of the European Network on Independent Living (ENIL) and how it is now reinforced by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD).
A video message at the 52nd session of the UN’s Human Rights Council from Gerard Quinn, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In this, he highlights the difficulty of exposing abuse, because of its invisibility,