Posted: Friday 15 January 2010
Politicians made some very encouraging noises on the subject of mental health discrimination this week.
First came the report from the Speaker’s Conference Inquiry on Parliamentary Representation (PDF file). Hidden away on page 101, but no less important for it, was the recommendation that an archaic, discriminatory piece of mental health legislation be repealed. The law in question, section 141 of the 1983 Mental Health Act, stipulates that an MP who receives 6 months or more medical treatment for a serious mental health problem should be removed from his or her seat.
The assumption, of course, is that those who have been affected by mental illness couldn’t possibly cope with, or be trusted to cope with, the demands of being an MP.
In 2008 the cross-party parliamentary group on mental health published a survey which found that one in five MPs had experienced a mental health problem. So what message does section 141 send to them? Does it encourage them to speak openly about their condition, to deal with mental illness in a calm, grown-up fashion, and to seek help where necessary? Or does it scream, “whatever you do, don't admit to it or you'll never work again”?
The Speaker’s Conference inquiry decided S141 is more likely to send out the latter message, and that “it embodies attitudes which stigmatize and sap the confidence of people with mental illness.” Well said.
Such a law would never be tolerated in relation to debilitating physical illness, as Lynne Jones MP pointed out at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday. That the Prime Minister then acknowledged the importance of the issue bodes well for a repeal of the legislation.
On a less positive note, ministers have turned their backs on a 2004 promise to review the jury service rules, which currently exclude those who are receiving treatment for mental health problems from sitting on a jury. The rules are based on the same unacceptable and outdated assumption as S141 – that people with mental health problems just aren’t capable of taking on this level of responsibility. These are exactly the sort of assumptions that our politicians should be fighting against and it's disappointing, to say the least, that in this case they have chosen not to do so. Still, Rome wasn’t built in a day….
Louise Kirsh, Parliamentary Officer
This is good news for MPs maybe now people will start to talk openly about there experiences of mental distress.
MPs could then start to do work on removing discrimination for the every day person who they are paid to represent.
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