The Open Society Mental Health Initiative

News and Events

News and Anouncements

Florid-A New Website Run By And For Mental Health Service Users (UK)

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Florid is a new website run by mental health service users for people who have experienced mental health difficulties. It aims to bring together information relating to mental health in a way that is user-friendly and simple.

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Psychiatric Facilities Encouraged To Use "Mystery-Patients" To Improve Services (USA)

Monday, June 29, 2009

Mental health services could be improved by planting trained consumers pretending to be patients, or "mystery patients," to identify problems, according to a commentary in the July 2009 issue of Psychiatric Services, a journal of the American Psychiatric Association.

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more news & announcements

Funding/Opportunities

Open Society Fellowship

Deadline: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

The Fellowship will enable outstanding individuals from around the world, journalists, activists, academics, practitioners to work on projects that inspire meaningful public debate, shape policy, and inform the thinking and activities of the Open Society Institute and the Soros foundations.

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Participate And Disseminate Survey On Youth With Disabilities Within DPOs

Deadline: June 30, 2009

European Disability Forum (EDF) has launched a questionnaire on the participation of disabled young persons, in order to better understand the involvement of youth with disabilities within Disabled People Organisations (DPOs).

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more funding/opportunities

Upcoming Events

New Directions in Welfare

Oxford, UK

June 29, 2009 - July 01, 2009

New Directions in Welfare covers social choice, decision theory and include experimental contributions; empirical/applications cover health, development, environment, social policy, education etc.

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Homeless Link: Annual Conference 2009

University of Warwick, UK

July 06, 2009 - July 08, 2009

Homeless Link's 2009 conference will look at different methods on how to prevent and end rough sleeping and homelessness.

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more upcoming events

Publications and Reports

Hate Crime: Impact, Causes and Responses

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

This book by Neil Chakraborti and Jon Garland examines crimes motivated by race, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation and how best to police such crimes. The book considers the challenges involved in policing hate crime, as well as exploring the role of the media. Legislative developments are discussed throughout.

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Annual Report 2009 - European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) has released its Annual Report 2009. The report covers information, events and developments on fundamental rights in the European Union for the year 2008.

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more publications and reports

OSMHI Survey - Your Opinion Matters!

Please complete our survey and tell us what you think of this website.

The survey will take no more than 5 minutes to complete.

Click Here to take survey

UN Disability Convention

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities received its 20th ratification on April 3, 2008, triggering the entry into force of the Convention and its Optional Protocol on May 3, 2008. This marks a major milestone in the effort to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons with disabilities, and to promote respect for their inherent dignity.

Information on the convention process:
Convention in Easy to Read
View the list of signatories
Countries that have ratified the Convention
ICRPD Ratification Toolkit
Convention and Inclusive Education
View more information

 

News reports on the Convention:
Agreement on New UN Convention
Urging Implementation
Archive Webcast: Convention Signing 
Record Number of Countries Sign
Secretary-General Ban Hails Entry Into Force Of Treaty On Disability Rights
More news reports

Publications:
UN Handbook for Parliamentarians on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol
First Implementation Manual For The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities (Addressed Specifically To Users And Survivors Of Psychiatry)


Ratify Now (The campaign to support global grassroots efforts to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities).

Films about Inclusion

Foster Care for Children with Disabilities: English ** Russian

I Want to Work and I Can Work!

Living Proof: The right to live in the community

Reality - film on personal assistance

Being an Unperson. A short film about the experience of dehumanization within the care system.

In My Language. A short film about autism and nonverbal communication.

A Way of Describing Autism. A short film by Dave Spicer and Amanda Baggs.

Equalise It!

A Manifesto for Disability Equality in Development Cooperation

The international committee of UK Disabled People's Council (formerly BCODP) has written this manifesto in the light of the signing of the UN Convention on the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 

To read the campaign launch letter, please click here.

Organisations who wish to sign up to the Manifesto are asked to contact Bill Albert or Mark Harrison so that their name and logo can be added to the list of signatories.