Let's* overhaul the Mental Health Act 1983 !

Let's* overhaul the Mental Health Act 1983 !

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2017 (19 to 26 October)
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

4 October

Let's* overhaul the Mental Health Act 1983 !

Well, MHA 1983 was looked at - in much detail - between around 2004 and the enactment of the 2007 Act :

Who says *what's* wrong matters !

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) October 4, 2017

* Mental Health Act 1983, 'trumping' Mental Capacity Act 2005 - cannot refuse consent for #mh treatment

* How #ECT proponents avoid consent

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) October 4, 2017

And what of other supposed opportunities or achievements... And looked at now, after so many people have died - or even killed themselves - because of the #WCA and #ESA ? :

Where were we, with questioning 'Am I celebrating Royal Assent for the Mental Health (Discrimination) Act 2013 ?' :https://t.co/iR5pFbNqGo

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) October 4, 2017

Mental illness can drain away your self esteem and self-belief. Recharging can feel like an uphill battle. RT if you can relate. #StopStigma pic.twitter.com/m1TjbDIsSM

— SANE (@CharitySANE) October 6, 2017

But dominant words are #resilience / #recovery, so - even after admissions (under section) - our saying so's been made to sound an excuse ? https://t.co/aRkuvULkPE

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) October 6, 2017

End-notes :

* Let's = Let us. So who are we - and what do we want, and Why ?


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Unless stated otherwise, all films reviewed were screened at Festival Central (Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge)

Am I celebrating Royal Assent for the Mental Health (Discrimination) Act 2013 ?

More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2012
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)

1 March (updated with Tweets, 2017)

Well, no...

Crediting @TimetoChange, an Act in 2013 won significant victory for the rights of those subject to #mh diagnoses :https://t.co/iR5pFbNqGo

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) January 6, 2017

Mental Health (Discrimination) Act 2013 may not be the shortest Act of Parliament, but...

It comprises 4 sectionshttps://t.co/ff80eqlbVs

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) January 6, 2017

By comparison Mental Health Act 2007 amended Mental Health Act 1983 :https://t.co/yxiVPjWeUg

2007 Act : 59 sections, 11 Schedules

QED ? https://t.co/LPgU2pM1di

— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) January 6, 2017

Despite the mental-health charities waving flags, I do not think that it has changed very much - or in the right way - for most people, and this is why :

1. How many people will ever be a company director, and is just removing bars relating to mental health, without regard to safeguarding shareholders and those with whom the company may do business or interact, the right approach ? Limitations on being fit to act as a director that do not stereotype mental ill-health, but reflect the fact that it and many other criteria might make staying a director inappropriate, should have been considered.

2. Some can now serve on a jury, itself not an everyday calling (many enough are never asked), but - across the board - not someone on a Community Treatment Order. That is still wildly discriminatory.

3. Of the groundbreaking areas, being an MP is the thing anyone is least likely to do. Rather than just doing away with the previous law, the law should have been revised, so that an MP is as capable of carrying out parliamentary and constituency duties over time as a company director.


Three roles that affect almost no one in ordinary life, and this is a triumph ? No, it is just repealing legislation, rather than considering what should have been passed in its place ! It paves the way for no new and better legislation to deal with the real issue of discrimination in mental health in the slightest.


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