The Legal Rights Of Citizens With Mental Retardation

This book is the formal presentation of the issues discussed at the Second National Conference on the Legal Rights of Citizens with Mental Retardation. A relationship between the community and its citizens with mental retardation is discussed extensively in the first section of the book. Other sections of the book are devoted to key litigation and legislation for the rights of citizens with mental retardation, law as it pertains to newborns with severe handicaps, advances in education and rehabilitation, and future strategies for advocacy. A few of the noted contributors include Carl R. Halpern, Dean of the CUNY Law School, Professor Robert A. Burt of Yale University, and Professor Robert H. Mnookin of Stanford University. This book is designed as a basic reference for advocates and others concerned with the mentally retarded.

Engaging in sex, becoming parents, raising children: these are among the most personal decisions we make, and for people with mental retardation, these decisions are consistently challenged, regulated, and outlawed. This book is a comprehensive study of the American legal doctrines and social policies, past and present, that have governed procreation and parenting by persons with mental retardation. It argues persuasively that people with retardation should have legal authority to make their own decisions. Despite the progress of the normalization movement, which has moved so many people with mental retardation into the mainstream since the 1960s, negative myths about reproduction and child rearing among this population persist. Martha Field and Valerie Sanchez trace these prejudices to the eugenics movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They show how misperceptions have led to inconsistent and discriminatory outcomes when third parties seek to make birth control or parenting decisions for people with mental retardation. They also explore the effect of these decisions on those they purport to protect. Detailed, thorough, and just, their book is a sustained argument for reform of the legal practices and social policies it describes.

'This book...is both timely and important, Great strides have been made in the understanding of mental illness, in the effectiveness of treatments, and in the improvement of living conditions for those who suffer. But much still needs to be done. People with mental disabilities continue to experience discrimination and stigma and are not able to enjoy the full fruits of American life. The Rights of People with Mental Disabilities reviews the issues and contemplates the areas in which all consumers, mental health professionals, and advocates can continue to make improvements. I Commend the authors for their work.' Rosalynn Carter

Based on the testimony of people with psychiatric disabilities (PD). These recommendations emphasize the principle that people with PD have the right to expect that they will be treated according to the principles of law that apply to all other citizens. All laws & policies that restrict the rights of people with PD simply because of their disabilities are inharmonious with basic principles of law & justice, as well as with such civil rights laws as the ADA. Chapters: when helping hurts; creating new lives: independent housing, economic supports, meaningful work; patients' rights: parity, alternatives, inclusion; criminal justice; & a zillion forms & still no civil rights.