Disability Agency Works Against Disabled Persons

The below excerpt is from
"AccessLetter
February — March 2012
E-mail edition
News & Information for the Access-Minded
Cambridge [MA} Commission for Persons with Disabilities":

There are two notices from the National Alliance On Mental Illness, (NAMI). NAMI gets two to three million dollars each year to promote drug treatment to persons accused of mental illness. NAMI does not protect the rights or interests of persons with disabilities. Taxpayer funded agencies like the Cambridge Commission for Persons With Disabilities work for drug companies and their lobbyists to promote the business interests of the companies. Those interests are often in conflict with the rights of persons with disabilities.

This is clear from the description in the notice which is repeated by other organizations (e.g., M-POWER) which work with and for NAMI. The phrase is "The group is free and open to all who self-identify as having a mental illness." The Americans With Disabilites Act, The Rehabilitation Act, state and US laws that protect the rights of persons with disabilities has a directly opposite standard. The standard which creates discrimination based on disability is that the person is perceived as having a disability. It does not matter to the law what the person thinks of himself. What matters is what others think of him or her. The standard promoted by NAMI is the psychiatric standard for treatment. A person cannot be cured of mental illness if he does not recognize that he is mentally ill. It is a religious standard. Psychiatric illnesses can only be seen by psychiatrists.

If the illnesses were real it would not matter what the afflicted person thought. Compare if a person does not recognize that he has a rash. But the rash can be cured regardless.
Here is an example of a taxpayer funded city agency ignoring laws and promoting the standards created by the lobbyist for drug companies. It is one of several current standards among the alleged advocates for the rights of persons with disabilities that prevents them from enjoying their rights. Taxpayer funded agencies work against their interests. Shocking isn't it? Are journalists and elected officials clueless or what?

[From newsletter]
"Mondays

NAMI Connection – a support group for adults with mental illness sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, meets every Monday, 1-2:30 p.m. at the Cambridge Somerville Recovery Learning Center, 153 South St, 2nd Floor in Somerville. The group is free and open to all who self-identify as having a mental illness, regardless of diagnosis. For more information, contact Janel Tan at 617-863-5388 or <tanj@vinfen.org>.

NAMI Support Group for Caregivers –Sponsored by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, this is a free support group for family members, friends and other caregivers of persons with mental illness that provides understanding, comfort, hope and help. This group meets on the 1st and 3rd Monday of each month at 7:30pm at the Cambridge Hospital Learning Center A, 3rd Floor, 1493 Cambridge Street. For more information, see <www.namimass.org/programs>, e-mail <helpline@namimass.org>, or call Elizabeth at 781‑646‑0397."