The tragedies uncovered at Willowbrook State School helped bring visibility to the types of horrors that can be inflicted upon vulnerable people when the the authority of institutions goes unchecked. The Protection & Advocacy system was forged out of this type of exposure and while many things have changed since Willowbrook, the P&A system is just as necessary now as it was then. So when I started this series focused on learning more about Protection & Advocacy organizations it seemed fitting to talk to the people doing this type of work in the state where, in many ways, it all started.

In this conversation I talk with Tim Clune and Jennifer Monthie from Disability Rights New York about the work they do, the legacy of the P&A system, and why it's important that this work continues.

Disability Rights New York: https://www.drny.org/

In this episode I speak with advocates and attorneys from Disability Rights Center New Hampshire. We spoke broadly about the work they do as New Hampshire's Protection & Advocacy organization but we also spoke in detail about a tremendously concerning practice called "conditional discharge". With a conditional discharge a person who has been committed to a mental health facility can be forced into a frightening form of outpatient commitment that could potentially last for decades.

Disability Rights Center: https://drcnh.org/

Conditional Discharge: https://drcnh.org/disability-issue-areas/mental-health/conditional-discharge/

When a leaked HHS budget proposal suggested that Protection & Advocacy organizations might experience significant reductions to their federal funding, it frightened me. I have been involuntarily detained in psychiatric facilities, and although it has been over 20 years since I went through those experiences I am still haunted by them. The trauma caused when someone is forced into these systems can be instantaneous. It can have a pervasive and irreparable impact on the person experiencing it. And for someone like me, someone who has been forced into facilities and deemed mentally unfit to be free, Protection & Advocacy organizations are the federally empowered watchdogs that can provide a glimmer of hope. When properly resourced, these organizations may genuinely be the safeguard preventing some states from devolving back to the horrific dehumanization embodied in tragedies like the Willowbrook State School in New York.

So, yeah, hearing that these organizations might be severely diminished frightened me.

To try and better communicate what these organizations do, and the type of impact that they can have, I am doing a series of interviews with people from P&As throughout the United States. This is the first episode in that series where I spoke with attorneys from Disability Law Colorado about the work they do and why P&As are important.

Disability Law Colorado:

https://disabilitylawco.org

In this episode of Committable Concepts we talk about anosognosia.

Episode Transcript: sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committable-conceptstranscripts/2024/9/21/committable-concepts-anosognosia-transcript

Committable is produced by Michelle Stockman, Jim McQuaid and Jesse Mangan. https://sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committable

In this episode of Committable Concepts we talk about voluntary hospitalizations.

Episode Transcript: sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committable-conceptstranscripts/2024/9/13/committable-concepts-voluntary

Committable is produced by Michelle Stockman, Jim McQuaid and Jesse Mangan. https://sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committable

In this episode of Committable Concepts we talk about the term antipsychiatry.

Episode Transcript: sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committable-conceptstranscripts/2024/9/7/committable-concepts-anti-psychiatry-transcript

Committable is produced by Michelle Stockman, Jim McQuaid and Jesse Mangan. https://sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committable

In this episode we interview Ami Kachalia from ACLU of New Jersey and Bren Pramanik from Disability Rights New Jersey about mental health laws in New Jersey.

Ami Kachalia: https://www.aclu-nj.org/en/biographies/ami-kachalia

Bren Pramanik: https://disabilityrightsnj.org/staff-of-drnj/

Episode Transcript: sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committables3-transcripts/2024/5/21/s3-new-jersey

Committable is produced by Michelle Stockman, Jim McQuaid and Jesse Mangan. https://sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committable

All music is from the song Reasonable by Christopher G. Brown.https://christophergbrown.bandcamp.com/track/reasonable

In this episode of Committable Concepts we talk about Assisted Outpatient Treatment, also known as AOT.

Episode Transcript:

sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committable-conceptstranscripts/2024/5/13/committable-concepts-aot-transcript

Committable is produced by Michelle Stockman, Jim McQuaid and Jesse Mangan. https://sensiblenonsense.squarespace.com/committable