Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day
Okay, I’ll just say it ’cause I’m feeling it: Pretty exciting that we’re inagaurating our first African-American prez tomorrow, right? On Wednesday we can start feeling disillusioned, but today I’m going to feel happy.
On the mental health tip, in the spirit of injustice, Joe sent me the following:
Under the heading of “Beyond Belief.” Having grossly violated the trust of consumers, GA’s DHR is being permitted to monitor the operation of its state hospitals under the terms of a DOJ settlement, “The Department of Human Resources —- the agency that operates the seven state hospitals —- will monitor its own compliance with a settlement agreement reached last week with the U.S. Justice Department. The agreement calls for the state to correct deficiencies that caused hundreds of injuries and illnesses and dozens of deaths among psychiatric patients, spending as much money as is necessary.”
DHR to monitor itself in mental hospital settlement
liz | 11:59 AM | hospitals / hospitalization
On this important day of remembrance, I am reminded of this by Martin Luther King, Jr., “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can’t ride you unless your back is bent.”
Where so many oppressed groups have progressed by asserting their rights, mental health consumers and the organizations that putatively advocate for our interests have for too long supplicated for the same and have consequently achieved much less. Learned helplessness is a deadly impediment in all things.
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