Real voices - people's rights
What is it like to be discriminated against because you have a mental illness or are a carer? Here people share their experiences of having their rights infringed upon.
Overcoming discrimination
- Read about how one man battled against discrimination that prevented him finishing his education to become a doctor and went on to have a successful career.
Over the twenty or so years that I have had a diagnosis of schizophrenia various things have happened to me that I feel have been unfair. I lost my place at medical school because of my mental illness. I left the course because of mental health problems, with a view to returning later. My reapplication was rejected because of my schizophrenia. The dean and the two other doctors on the board said I would not be able to adequately think of other people in a career as a doctor. I felt very bitter at this implication of self-centredness. Sometimes I can see the dean's point of view, but I have lost a lot, like a lottery ticket being ripped up.
I've now worked ten years as a pharmacist so sometimes I think that those doctors were just plain wrong. Since training as a pharmacist I have had a breakdown, it's true, but it has been just one episode. I broke down while working with a small company in East Sussex. During an employment review my line manager accused of being ‘a poor man manager’ under section 1a of his review form. The superintendent of the chain of pharmacies then asked me to resign, and there was no offer of helping me to return to work when recovered. This lack of support and my feelings of diminished self worth definitely contributed to my collapse. I did recover from this, which I still regard as a bit uncharitable. I am working again.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society know of my condition and allow me to work. They supervised my return to work. My employer's occupational health department know, and so do my line managers and store manager. This tolerance does help me feel a bit more comfortable. In an ideal world my dream is that I would have been a successful doctor in a secure, settled existence, but it hasn't worked out that way.
Sahaja yoga, a form of meditation, has been very good for me and there has never been any prejudice against me because of mental illness in undertaking my yoga practice. Shri Mataji was once asked at a public meeting whether the mentally ill should be allowed to come to Sahaja yoga and she said, "Let them come." So the personal and collective enlightenment and emancipation of Sahaja yoga holds no bar to those with mental health problems. "This Sahaja yoga is a great blessing" (service user)
Fighting for justice
A mental health service user is using his knowledge of human rights to challenge the circumstances of the death of his mother in a nursing home. She suffered with Alzheimer's and passed away earlier this year. His complaint against the nursing home has now finally been taken up by the Healthcare Commission. He is currently awaiting the outcome of this investigation.
'My point is never give up! Through your pen you can move mountains with persistence!'.
