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About the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
For three decades, the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental
Health Law has been the nation's leading legal advocate for people
with mental disabilities. Our precedent-setting litigation has
outlawed institutional abuse and won protections against arbitrary
confinement.
In the courts and in Congress, our advocacy has opened up public
schools, workplaces, housing and other opportunities for people
with mental disabilities to participate in community
life.
Our Mission
The mission of the Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health
Law is to protect and advance the rights of adults and children
who have mental disabilities. The Center envisions an America where
people who have mental illnesses or developmental disabilities
exercise their own life choices and have access to the resources
that enable them to participate fully in their communities.
Our Work
Our advocacy is based on the principle that every individual
is entitled to choice and dignity. For many people with mental
disabilities, this means something as basic as having a decent
place to live, supportive services and equality of opportunity.
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law uses a coordinated approach
of litigation, policy analysis, coalition-building, public information
and technical support for local advocates in four broad areas
of advocacy:
- A new vision of hope, dignity and human rights-- a realistic possibility for people with serious mental disabilities because important federal laws, won through three decades of advocacy, protect their rights in the areas of housing,
health care, education, employment and life as full members of their communities. We work to defend
these hard-won rights, focusing on preserving anti-discrimination laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and implementing the recovery-oriented mental health system recommended by the President's New Freedom Commission.
- Access to opportunity-- for children, through reforming the foster care system and enforcing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, with its mandate of positive behavioral supports; for college and university students, urging educational institutions to reform discriminatory mental health policies that punish students for seeking treatment; and for adults, promoting and preserving access to Medicaid rehabilitation services and ensuring access to public benefits for people with mental illnesses being released from incarceration.
- Self-determination and respect for choice.
People with mental disabilities have the right to take charge of their own lives,
free from coercion and invasion of privacy. This includes economic
self-sufficiency and the ability to vote for the leaders whose
decisions will affect their lives. It also means that individuals
should have a voice in their treatment decisions and control over
who has access to their treatment records. We work to expand the use and recognition of advance directives for psychiatric care, encourage replication of self-directed care models and enforce the voting rights of people with disabilities.
- Accountability of public systems. People with mental disabilities should not be punished
for the system's failures to provide access to the resources
they
need for stable lives and meaningful participation in the community. We hold public systems accountable for the safety and welfare of those they serve--challenging exclusion from school of children with emotional disorders and segregation of people with disabilities in nursing homes, institutions and "adult homes," and combating the criminalization of people with mental illnesses.
How We Do It
Precedent-Setting Litigation
Bazelon Center attorneys provide technical support on mental health
law issues and co-counsel selected lawsuits with
private lawyers, legal services programs, ACLU chapters and state
protection and advocacy systems (P&As). Attorneys with major law firms provide critical pro bono assistance in these cases.
Unfortunately, the Bazelon Center lacks the necessary resources
and expertise on each state's laws and regulations to handle individual
requests for information or assistance. If you need help with your
case, please look up your state's Protection and Advocacy system on the website of the National Disability Rights Network.
Policy Advocacy
We collaborate with local, regional and national advocacy and consumer
organizations to reform public systems and promote consumer participation
in the design and operation of service programs. We're also active
in national policy coalitions working to preserve and expand programs
that assure children and adults with mental disabilities of choice
and dignity.
Public Education
We publish handbooks, manuals, issue papers
and reports explaining key legal and policy issues
in everyday terms and highlight issues related to mental health
law in the media.
Our History
The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law was founded in 1972 by
a group of committed lawyers and professionals in mental health
and mental retardation. Known until 1993 as the Mental Health Law
Project, our name today honors the federal
appeals court judge whose
landmark decisions pioneered the field of mental health law.
Throughout 30 years of landmark advocacy, the Bazelon Center
has led the way in efforts to define and advance the rights of people
with mental disabilities in a number of areas, including:
The Right to Treatment
Before 1972, people with mental disabilities were often simply warehoused
in remote state psychiatric hospitals and so-called training schools.
Our work in the Willowbrook case in New York and Wyatt
v. Stickney in Alabama set minimum standards for physical conditions,
staffing and safeguards of human rights in psychiatric and mental
retardation institutions (1972) and ultimately mandated community
care for residents.
The Right to Services in the Most Integrated Setting
In the Dixon case, the Bazelon Center helped establish
the right to receive treatment in the least restrictive setting
for
people with mental disabilities in Washington, DC. Our work to
secure the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Olmstead
v. L.C (1999) took a major step toward affirming that
right nationally.The Bazelon Center's advocacy has also helped
secure
protections
in the
Americans with
Disabilities Act for people with mental disabilities against discrimination
in the community.
The Right to Live in the Community
The Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 is an essential protection
for people with mental disabilities from housing discrimination.
The Bazelon Center was instrumental in assuring inclusion of people
with mental illnesses under the law and in defeating efforts to
repeal the law (1998-1999).
The Right to Education
The Bazelon Center played a key role in establishing the right of
all children with disabilities to appropriate education through
America's public schools - first in Mills v Board of Education
(1972) and in subsequent decades in enacting and preserving this
right through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
The Right to Federal Entitlements
In Minnesota Mental Health Association v. Schweiker and City
of New York v. Bowen, the Bazelon Center won decisions ending
the Social Security Administration's (SSA) use of arbitrary criteria
to decide applicants' eligibility for federal disability benefits
on the basis of a mental impairment (1983-5). We worked with SSA
to draft new standards for evaluating mental disability with the
result that hundreds of thousands of adults and children were able
to secure crucial economic support and access to Medicaid (1984-1988). In every successive year, we have battled in Congress and with the federal agency administering the program to expand--and then preserve--Medicaid's coverage of children's mental health services and its funding of rehabilitative services for adults in the community.
For a more comprehensive list of our accomplishments, please
see our handout, "30 Years of Landmark
Advocacy" or purchase Civil
Rights and Human Dignity: 30 Years of Advocacy by the Bazelon Center
for Mental Health Law.
Frequently Asked Questions
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