The Open Society Mental Health Initiative

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Publications and Reports Produced by MHI

 

Rights of People with Intellectual Disabilities: Access to Education and Employment (2006)
Produced by OSI's EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program (EUMAP) and MHI, this is a series of 12 country reports on the rights of people with intellectual disabilities in Europe. The reports monitor the degree to which existing international standards and national legislation are heeded and applied. Each report includes specific policy recommendations targeting both domestic and international decision-makers.

 

Access to Education and Employment for People with Intellectual Disabilities: An Overview of the Situation in Central and Eastern Europe (2006)
This is MHI's overview paper based on information from the above monitoring reports on access to education and employment for people with intellectual disabilities.

 

The Situation of People with Mental Health Problems and People with Intellectual Disabilities in Kosova/Kosovo (2006)
This needs assessment report, written by the Kosova/Kosovo Association of Psychology Students and financed by MHI, aims to describe the current situation of people with mental disabilities in Kosova/Kosovo, to outline the legal framework and the services that are available, and to survey future plans and projects which aim at improving services.

 

Partners for Better Policies: A Manual for Mainstreaming (2006)
This manual was produced as part of "Mainstreaming Mental Disability Policies," a project supported by the European Commission and organized by MHI, Inclusion Europe, and Global Initiative in Psychiatry. The purpose of the manual is to provide materials that are relevant to people with mental health problems and/or intellectual disabilities and that can be used in training events on mainstreaming policies.

 

The Situation of People with Mental Health Problems and People with Intellectual Disabilities in Georgia (2005)
This needs assessment report, written by the Georgian Association for Mental Health and financed by MHI, provides an overview of the general situation of people with mental health problems and people with intellectual disabilities in Georgia. It analyzes the respective legislation and policy and identifies the major gaps, assesses the availability of community-based services and makes concrete recommendations for improving policy, legislation and practice to support the social inclusion of people with mental disabilities. The report emphasizes that the government needs to develop community-based services as alternatives to institutional care.

 

Transitions Online and Mental Health Initiative Release Article Series on Mental Health Care in Central and Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union (2003)
This collection of articles highlights both the progress towards, and the challenges to, social inclusion of people with mental disabilities.

 

Making Social Inclusion a Reality: The Challenge for People with Mental Disabilities in Central and Eastern Europe (2003)
In this article, MHI Director Judith Klein and MHI Legal and Policy Consultant Camilla Parker address the current challenges to achieving the goal of equal citizenship for people with mental disabilities in Central and Eastern Europe.

Highlights

1) Dumping Grounds For Forgotten People

An investigation by Bulgarian journalist Yana Buhrer Tavanier on the mental care institutions in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.   

Please visit the website dedicated to the investigation and view the new promotional video.


Judith Klein, director of the OSMHI (Open Society Mental Health Initiative) has written a foreword to the article, which appears in the newsletter of the European Coalition for Community Living, Issue No. 10, October 2009 and also on the investigation website.


2) Report of the Ad Hoc Expert Group on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care

A report on the Transition from Institutional to Community-based Care was handed over to Commissioner Vladimír ?pidla on September 23, 2009. The report was drafted by a group of independent experts convened by Commissioner Spidla in February 2009 to address the issues of institutional care reform in their complexity.  The report is also available in Bulgarian, Croatian, Hungarian, Romanian.

Films

Karin Dom - a training and resource centre for children with special needs and their families

This short film was made following a BBC production about a children's institution in Mogilino, Bulgaria. The film features MHI partner organization Karin Dom and highlights what community-based alternatives for children can be like in Bulgaria.

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.