DISABILITY MATTERS"
WITH JOYCE BENDER
GUEST: MS. ALISON
HILLMAN,
DIRECTOR OF
MENTAL DISABILITY RIGHTS
INTERNATIONAL
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>>
Welcome to "Disability Matters" with your host,
All
comments used and opinions expressed on this show are solely those of the
hosts, guests and callers.
The
host of "Disability Matters," here's
>>
JOYCE BENDER: The question is: Can one individual change the
attitude?
How
about can one individual change the attitude of a country?
And
I say: Yes, they can.
That just goes to show you why one person can make a
tremendous difference, and we are so excited, I'm so excited, to have Alison
Hillman, the Director of Americas Advocacy Initiative for Mental Disability
Rights International as our guest today, because Alison, I got to have dinner
with her.
Not very long ago at the American Association for
People with Disabilities Gala in
First,
welcome to the show.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Thank you so much, Joyce.
>> JOYCE BENDER: That is such a
prestigious honor, for all of our listeners just so you know, to receive the
Paul G. Hearne Award is truly a prestigious honor and Alison was one of the
recipients of the award that evening and went up and received the award and
spoke for a few minutes and showed a video.
We'll
be talking about all of this later on.
But
can you share with our listeners, what did that mean to you that evening,
receiving that award?
>>ALISON
HILLMAN: Well, it was really an overwhelming honor.
Not only to be there with so many recognized and
formidable leaders of the disability community, it included advocates which
have fought for so long for the advances in disability rights but receiving the
award I just feel it also has given me a tremendous responsibility to continue
the struggle to advance the rights of people with disabilities, and also to
work on a cross‑disability movement here in the United States to make
sure that the full inclusion in society of people with disabilities.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: I’m glad to hear you say that, because, Alison, you are someone I believe, can really help us
tremendously.
Throughout
the world, but definitely right here in the United States.
I
just feel that you are someone that is going to continue to make a difference.
And
I know you will use the award in that way.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Well, I certainly hope to.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: I know you will.
Alison,
you are an attorney with an international human rights background.
And I must say, you have an
extremely impressive academic background from
I
know at Cornell and onward you had a very, very impressive background from an
academic standpoint.
So
tell us first, what made you decide when you went to college, why did you want
to be an attorney?
Did
you always want to do that from when you were a child?
>> ALISON HILLMAN: I didn't always want to
be an attorney and I actually didn't think seriously about studying law until I
was working with the United Nations mission in
In the mid 1990s and after living and working in the
country nearly three years and not really seeing an end to any of the abuses
and witnessing kind of the impunity enjoyed by perpetrators, I really felt
powerless to change the situation.
And so at that point, I decided that if I wanted to
make a real difference in international human rights law, that I needed the
tools to be able to hold violators of human rights abuses accountable.
And
I thought that the most effective way to do this would be to become an
attorney.
So
I decided at that point that I needed to return to the States and go to law
school.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And you know what?
For
all of the people listening to this show today, here is why she is a Paul G.
Hearne Award winner.
Talk
about initiative.
This
is what we need more of, people like you, Alison, people who are true leaders.
You
saw a problem, instead of just saying, I see a problem, you said: Now,
what can I do to do something about that?
And
I hope all of you, especially young people with disabilities who are listening,
that, that's the way it is.
If
we want to make a difference for people with disabilities, we have to have
initiative and do something about it, not just talk about it.
As
I said, that's why you are a Paul G. Hearne Award winner.
And
I know you are a great leader for people with psychiatric disabilities.
Could
you share with our listeners, Alison, why and how you yourself got involved in
this area?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Sure.
How
I became involved in the work is maybe a little bit easier to answer than why.
I
was in my final year of law school, and I was working for a student‑run
publication called "The Human Rights Brief."
And
an article was submitted by an organization called Mental Disability Rights
International.
I did a little research and found that MDRI was using
international human rights law to enforce the rights of people with mental
disabilities in
So
I called the Executive Director, Eric Rosenthal, and proposed we apply for a
New Voices Fellowship which would pay my salary for two years.
New Voices is a leadership development program that
supports small nonprofit organizations who commit to
cultivating and strengthening, excuse me, the leadership potential of
historically underrepresented groups.
And I wanted to work in mental disability rights,
because I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and hospitalized when I was in my
20s and experienced firsthand the stigma and discrimination that accompany a
mental illness diagnosis.
Not
to mention the tremendous self‑doubt and fear that flow from such a
diagnosis.
So I thought that working with MDRI utilizing
international human rights standards to improve the lives of fellow persons
with mental disabilities in
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And that's the truth.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yeah, that's ‑‑
>>
JOYCE BENDER: That is the truth.
And I'm sure that you yourself know that people with
psychiatric disabilities are dealing with severe attitudinal barriers when it
comes to employment issues.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Mm‑hmm.
>> JOYCE BENDER: And I don't know where,
you know ‑‑ for example, I have epilepsy, and we know there
are stigmas attached for people with epilepsy, also.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Sure.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: But I must say that the employment scenario is very
difficult for people with psychiatric disabilities.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Mm‑hmm.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: When you were diagnosed with this, Alison, what do you feel
was your greatest support system that helped you?
>> ALISON HILLMAN: I think the greatest
support for me was a significant relationship that I had at that time in my
life, and it was really about a year after I was diagnosed and had left the
hospital for the last time, I was still living with my parents, I was still at
home, I still hadn't really incorporated into society.
And there was a young man who, you know, asked me out,
and I just, you know, he really helped me to reintegrate into society, and
leave my fears of kind of being pointed at as, oh, there goes, you know, that
person with a mental illness.
Because
I really ‑‑ there was so much self‑fear and doubt around
reintegrating into society.
And
you know his support was probably one of the most helpful things for me.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: It is amazing how you can meet one person who can change
your life, isn't that amazing?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yes, yeah, it really is.
>> JOYCE BENDER: Do you have advice for
young people today who are dealing with psychiatric disabilities, and who are dealing
with stigma, not only from their friends, but even from their family?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: I think that you really need to find people who love and
support you unconditionally.
And I think one thing that really helps people with
mental illness diagnoses is to find peer support organizations, people who have
been through similar experiences, and can provide, you know, a perspective of
their personal tragedy: When they were diagnosed, and what's happened.
I
found that that can be very helpful.
Not
just in the
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Well, I agree with you, because it's the same thing with
epilepsy.
I recommend to everyone, you know, the thing that will
help you the most is to talk to someone else in a support group, because then
you realize you're not alone.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Right.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And you realize that other people are dealing with very
similar situations.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Mm‑hmm.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And your experience when you were in the hospital, how did
you feel you were treated?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: I felt like everything I said was questioned.
It
was a very controlled environment, a very hierarchical top‑down, these
are the rules and you must follow them.
If
you act according to the hospital in an inappropriate way, then you're not
allowed to, you know, go out, you know, at lunchtime.
So it was a very controlled environment, very
authoritarian environment and it didn't at least for me, it really didn't
instill in me confidence or the notion that I could become a functioning
individual again.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Yes.
And unfortunately, we have on our radio show, when
we've had people send in e‑mails or call in, we've heard this, you know,
very often, and that is an unfortunate situation.
Well,
Alison, you lived and worked in
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Mm‑hmm.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Now, what made you decide to go there?
Was
this from the studies that you were doing?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yeah, it was, actually.
It kind of sort of, when I was back in high school, a
good friend who was a couple of years older and studying at Cornell would come
to dinner at my parents' house and would discuss what he was learning in his
Latin America history courses, about the role of the U.S. government, either
role they'd played in overthrowing democratically elected governments and
funding oppressive military regimes and this information really made me
indignant, and I decided that I wanted to do a concentration in U.S./Latin
American relations in college.
So
during college, this is when I started visiting
I
spent a summer in
And
we were helping build a basketball court, and teaching art classes there.
After
graduating from Cornell, I wanted firsthand experience, and to learn for myself
what the impacts of
And
I wanted to be in some kind of long‑term service project there.
But I really needed to improve my Spanish, so I
traveled to the
And
through there, went to
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Hold on, because we want to hear everywhere you've been in
We'll
go to a break.
We'll
be right back with Alison Hillman, the Director of Americas Advocacy Initiative
for the Mental Disability Rights International.
We'll
be back.
[ music
playing ]
>>
Welcome back to "Disability Matters" with
If
you have a question or comment for Joyce or her guest, please call toll free at
1‑888‑335‑5234.
>> JOYCE BENDER: If you have a son or
daughter and are trying to teach them initiative and how to be a leader, you
better be listening to this show, because Alison Hillman is surely a great
example of what I'm talking about.
And
Alison, you were talking about, while you lived in
Could
you repeat those again for a few minutes?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Sure.
I
think I'd started out in
I
had lived there for a summer, doing a service project.
Then
I lived in the
And
then I went to
And
during law school, was able to visit a few Latin American countries, returned
to Guatemala to research the effects of petroleum exploitation on the
environment and indigenous rights in the mine bias field reserve which is an
area in the north of Guatemala where the ruins of Tecal
are.
And
I was also a student attorney in the international human rights law clinic at
American University, and through that, I was able to travel to Panama, and
visit an indigenous community with a land claim case before the Inter‑American
Commission on Human Rights and also traveled to Chile and conducted research
and met with clients in some cases we were filing in federal district court as
part of human rights impact litigation project.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: That is so exciting.
Talk
about getting to learn about other cultures and seeing the rest of the world.
Then
you had to move back to the
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yes, right.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: I'm sure you had a hard time adjusting to that after living
in
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: It was quite an adjustment and one that did not come
easily.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: You know what?
People
can call in, but they can also e‑mail questions to us prior to the show,
because we always, as my listeners know, send out press releases to the various
newspapers and different mediums about who our guest will be.
And
I always appreciate the questions that are sent in but I can never read all of
them.
So
I try to choose a few.
But
one question for you, Alison, is that, "I know, Ms. Hillman, that you
work with people with psychiatric disabilities or have worked in that area.
"My
child has a psychiatric disability, but I do not feel comfortable telling other
people, because of how he will be treated.
"What
advice do you have for me?"
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: That is difficult.
If
this ‑‑ you said it was a mother, is that right?
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Yes, Linda.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yeah, Linda, if you know of other family members of
children with mental illness, then I would recommend that you get in touch with
them and speak with them.
It's
definitely not easy, and there are so many ‑‑ there is so much stigma and discrimination that goes on that sharing
something like that openly with individuals can have negative effects,
unfortunately.
But
I think that talking about your concerns with people who have been through
similar experiences, other family members, can be very helpful.
So
that's, I guess, where I would start.
And
also, you know, you might want to talk about it with your child and see what
your child thinks about sharing that information with other people.
And
it might actually be the child's decision whether to share that openly with
individuals or not, because it is a very ‑‑ it's a very touchy
subject.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Well, here's a very closely related question.
Then
we'll move on here for a few minutes.
This
is from Ted, who is in college, and lives in
How
did you get the courage to talk about this?"
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: I think that if they're true friends, they won't leave
you.
I
got the courage to talk about it ‑‑ you know, it depends.
Some
people I share this with, and other people in other aspects of my life, don't
necessarily know that I have a psychiatric disability.
But
I think, Ted, if they are true friends, they'll stick by you and they'll
support you.
And
you know, that would be my response.
I
guess I initially, the first person that I can remember telling who wasn't in
my close circle of friends was someone who I had talked about earlier in the
show who I had just started dating, and he was a ‑‑ studying
to be a medical doctor, and I thought, well, if I can share this with him, you
know, he's going to be in the medical profession, he should understand, you
know.
And
I remember him asking me, on our second date, you know, so what is this
medication that you have to take?
And
I told him, you know, that I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
And
he said, wow, you're one of the most stable people I've ever met.
I
said, well that's what Depakote will do for you.
But
honestly, Ted, if these are true friends, they will stick by you and support
you.
So good luck.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: You know what?
Alison,
the one message you just gave is the truth.
I
have heard this so many times, even from people when they say, if I tell my
friends I have epilepsy, or if I tell my friends I have a psychiatric
disability, you know, they'll leave me.
And
I say the same thing you do: Then they're not friends.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Mm‑hmm, exactly.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Always remember that.
Anyone
listening to this show: A true friend will accept you as you are, and
having a disability is just part of you, period.
I
am not ashamed that I have epilepsy.
That's
just a part of me.
And
that's the way it is, just as there are different cultures of people, there is
a disability culture.
And
that is just something that you, you know, accept and you should not feel like
that, so they're not true friends.
I
agree with Alison, that it's just so infuriating to me, because I heard a young
girl speak at the Kids Speak Up/Speak Out Conference for the epilepsy
foundation in Washington, D.C., 11 years old, who said that when she told her
friends, or when they found out she had a seizure because she just started
having these when she was 11, that they all dumped her.
And
I said, well, those were not friends.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Right.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Those were losers.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Right.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Not friends.
Anyway,
so Alison ‑‑ and by the way, thank you for the questions.
You
know, as I said, I can't read all of them, but I always appreciate all the e‑mail
that we receive.
Anyway,
Alison, you are a person who filed the first petition with the Inter‑American
Commission on Human Rights challenging abuses in a psychiatric institution.
To
me, that was a tremendous accomplishment.
But
I'd like you to share with our listeners a little bit about that story so they
can understand what life was like for those people.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Sure.
Well,
we here at MDRI received some information that there were some fairly egregious
abuses going on in
And
so we took this information and did a couple of investigation missions, and
documented the conditions, which were truly horrific.
These
two individuals that I spoke of were detained in 6x6 feet isolation cells, and
they didn't, you know, the reports that we had heard were correct, they didn't
have access to bathrooms.
They
were covered in their own feces, they had to eat from these cells, they basically spent all day and night in these cells,
except for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the
afternoon every other day.
They
would take turns having time outside, and the conditions in the outside area
were equally horrible.
It
was filled with garbage and broken glass.
So
we decided to take a case to the Inter‑American Commission on Human
Rights to file what's called a precautionary measures petition, which would ask
for emergency measures to be taken to protect the lives and the physical,
mental, and moral integrity not only of these two boys, but of the other 458
people that were detained in the institution.
The
conditions really for everyone were horrific.
People
were locked in either cells or in larger patio‑style wards.
There
weren't enough beds for the number of patients they had.
There
was overcrowding.
There
was feces and urine in many of the patios, and it was
very unhealthy.
There
were cases of tuberculosis and individuals being detained side by side in
overcrowded conditions with patients with tuberculosis so it was really a
virtual wasteland, and there were, these really subhuman conditions and no
possibility of rehabilitation.
There
were no community services for people with mental illness.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Wow!
Is
that shocking?
That
is hard to believe that could go on in our lifetime.
Thank
God for Alison.
We'll
talk about the results as soon as we come back.
We're
with Alison Hillman, Paul G. Hearne Award winner, and great leader for people
with disabilities.
We'll
be back.
[ music
playing ]
>>
If you have a question or comment, please call toll free at 1‑888‑335‑5204.
Please
welcome back the host of "Disability Matters," here's
>>
JOYCE BENDER: We are back talking to Alison Hillman, the Director of
Americas Advocacy Initiative for the Mental Disability Rights International,
and most recently, Paul G. Hearne Award winner.
And
you know, during the break, let me tell you what I was talking to Alison about.
We're
going to talk next about this video that she was involved with that was made
during her visit to Paraguay to this institution that she was just talking
about, where they were abusing people with psychiatric disabilities.
And
what I was asking her was, how the heck did you get in
there?
Because
if you were at the AAPD gala, and someday I hope this is, like, shown at the
Oscars for a documentary, and anyone that listens to this show, write to
whomever you know in the media and tell them you heard about this video and
this documentary and you'd like to know more about it.
Let
me first have Alison talk about it for a minute.
Alison,
you worked with WITNESS, is that the name of the organization?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yes.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: To produce the video that documented conditions in the
psychiatric hospital that we just were talking about in
That
was last October, that's what you were telling me.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yes, mm‑hmm.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: You were telling me, you did go to the Minister of Health
and what did you tell him?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: We went to visit the Minister of Health before to ask
permission to gain access to the institution.
And
we met with him for perhaps 10 minutes, and he called up the institution's
Director, and told him that an international delegation was coming to
investigate the hospital, and so we met with the Director of the hospital
before taking a tour of the institution.
And
as I was telling you, you know, he allowed us in.
He
said, you know, the video is fine, cameras are fine, you're free to look at
records, so we really had unlimited access to document and to review records.
Which
is not something that we get in, you know, every country that we investigate
abuses in.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And not only that, especially when it was so terrible.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yes.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Absolutely deplorable.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yes.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: What I was telling Alison is I still can't get over how
they allowed her to do this.
And
what is very frightening is that as we were talking, they may not have thought
they were doing anything wrong.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yeah, they said that there were budgetary constraints,
that they didn't have the personnel, that they didn't have the budget to clean
the institution, that they didn't ‑‑ that, you know, they
thought that this was the only treatment for, for instance, for these two boys,
either that or that they just didn't have the resources to be able to provide
better treatment.
So
they had lots of reasons why they ‑‑ why conditions were the
way they were.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And this video, or clip of this video, was shown at the
AAPD Gala.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Mm‑hmm.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And I will tell all of you listeners, I mean, it was so
powerful.
It
shows these individuals, as she mentioned, here's a young man naked, living in
total dirt and squalor, just filth.
And
this is supposed to be a psychiatric institution.
This
is supposed to be a hospital.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Mm‑hmm, right.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And this is how he was living.
And
you could have heard a pin drop in the room.
And
I was telling Alison that afterwards, everyone at my table couldn't believe
that they allowed her in there to, you know, do this video, which is even
worse, thinking that it's because they didn't think they were doing anything
wrong.
But
can you share with our listeners what was the result of that video?
And
also, what was the result with the government?
What
did they do about this?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Sure.
The
video was used initially to accompany a written petition, to visually document
the abuses that we found in the hospital.
But
it was also used to gain the interest of CNN Espanol
in doing a story on conditions in the hospital so I think that the results that
the video had were two‑fold.
First
it provided vivid evidence of conditions in which people were detained and it
possibly influenced the Inter‑American Commission to grant emergency
measures to protect people within the institution.
And
secondly, it also helped leverage this investigative report done by CNN Espanol and the report was broadcast on December 26th and
27th of last year, and on the morning of December 31st, the President of
Paraguay made a surprise visit to the institution with the Minister of Health
and was absolutely appalled by the conditions and he fired the institution's
Director and appointed an investigative committee to examine mismanagement
within the hospital.
And
the President has since appointed a new Director of the hospital, and the
government of
So
there have been, you know ‑‑ the video and the petition really
had some pretty tremendous impacts, certainly far beyond what I would have
anticipated.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And you know what?
There
is my example of what I was talking about with you before.
Here
is a person who saw this problem, went to law school, saw another problem in
That
is a tremendous story, Alison.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Well, I had some other support.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: I have just total respect for you, for what you did.
I
think that is tremendous.
Now,
talking to you at the table about, you know, your visits in Latin America, it
seems as if across the board, that people with psychiatric disabilities, you
know, are treated in an inferior way or in an oppressive fashion.
Why
do you think that is?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Well, I think it's not just a problem within
Really,
everywhere that MDRI has done investigations into conditions in mental health systems, we've documented conditions now in 21 countries, in
We've
found very similar conditions wherever we've gone.
And
I think that, you know, even within the
So
I think it's really very similar conditions anywhere,
and it's just, particularly people with psychiatric disabilities, are
misunderstood, but people with intellectual disabilities also don't have the
political clout that other sectors of disability movements have.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Mm‑hmm.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: So I think that when people are told that they can't
speak for themselves, because they have a, you know, a diagnosis which says
that they're irrational or intellectually inferior, then
it's very difficult for those same people to organize.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Yes.
And
it all goes back to ignorance and fear and lack of understanding, it really
does.
You
know why I think it's worse in other countries?
It's
for the same reason, why is it worse in other countries for people, you know,
with epilepsy or with other disabilities?
It's
just, really, no understanding, you know, as you mentioned.
We
have problems right here in the
You
know they are just behind.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Mm‑hmm.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And I think I asked you at the table that night, what about
people with epilepsy?
Have
you noticed how they were treated in some of those same countries?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yeah.
MDRI
has found many people with epilepsy who are Institutionalized in psychiatric
facilities.
Again
as you said, there's lack of understanding of what epilepsy's about and what
can be done for epilepsy.
During
my last visit to
So
persons with epilepsy also are just suffering tremendous stigma, and
discrimination, and lack of understanding.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Yes, because there are some countries that still believe
in, you know, that this is a sign of demon possession, that the, you know,
things of that nature.
Although,
I'm sorry to tell you, there are still people who think that in the
But
that is why it's so important for us to reach out and help people throughout
the world, because no matter where you are, a disability's a disability, no
matter where you live.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Mm‑hmm.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And with that, we'll be right back to talk more to Alison
Hillman from MDRI and this year's Paul G. Hearne Award winner, one of three.
We'll
be back.
[ music
playing ]
>>
Welcome back to "Disability Matters" with
If
you have a question or comment for Joyce or her guest, please call toll free at
1‑888‑335‑5204.
Now
back to "Disability Matters," here's
>>
JOYCE BENDER: I don't think there's any doubt in your mind as to why
Alison Hillman is a Paul G. Hearne Award winner if you've been listening to
this show.
You
are truly, Alison, a great example for all young people with disabilities.
It
is just so amazing what you have been able to accomplish just through your own
desire and passion.
Again,
I just compliment you for all these things you've done.
And
I know, Alison, that you also were a co‑author of "Unanswered Cries:
Institutionalization and Violence Against Children
with Mental Disabilities".
I
wanted to ask you about that.
What
prompted you to write this?
And
was this also a situation you dealt with in
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yeah.
Many
children that I've seen with mental disabilities are abandoned in orphanages or
large state‑run institutions, where they don't receive the love and
support and nurturing that every child needs to grow and thrive.
And
I've witnessed children locked in tiny rooms, or in cells, as I just described,
in
And
so through this article, I wanted to emphasize that long‑term
Institutionalization is severely damaging to children and that we need to push
for community‑integrated services and supports for children with
disabilities and their families.
The
article references some international disability rights material, one of which
is declaration of Caracas which recognizes Institutionalization as a sole
response to mental illness actually hinders the achievement of effective mental
healthcare and the article also references the convention on the rights of the
child which emphasizes the need for children with disabilities to be in the
community and to have families and supports in the community.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And has this article been used throughout different
countries in
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Well, I know that the article has been translated into
French, Arabic, and Spanish, I think.
So
I'm not sure, I think that it's available on the website.
It's
the One in Ten Publication from Rehabilitation
International.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Before we forget that, what is your website, Alison.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Our website for Mental Disability Rights International is
www.MDRI.org.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: So that's MDRI.org.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: That's correct.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: So if anyone wants to reach you, is that how they could
reach you?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yeah, they could go to that website.
There
should be a link there to my e‑mail address, which people could also e‑mail
me at ahillman@MDRI.org.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: Well, you are, as I have cited several times, an example of
how one person can make a tremendous difference in the lives of millions of
people.
I
have to ask you: Who do you attribute this to, this successful initiative
in you?
I
mean, who was your role model?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: I guess I'd have to say my father.
He's
a large animal veterinarian, and he's really done tremendous things for
veterinary medicine.
He
now works actually with acupuncture and performing acupuncture on animals and
he's been a wonderful teacher of veterinary medicine, and speaker on veterinary
medicine, and he's also been very, very supportive of me.
So
that's who I'd have to say is my ‑‑ has been my role model for
a long time, and most recently, I'd have to say Lori Ahern is one of my biggest
role models.
She's
actually my mentor for the Paul G. Hearne Award.
She's
been very involved in the recovery movement here in the United States for the
last 11 years and she's now Associate Director here at MDRI.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And tell me, what would you say you learned from her?
What
was the most important thing you learned from her, that helped you in your
career?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Yeah.
Well,
she's just a very strong woman who has been open about the fact that she has a
psychiatric diagnosis, and that she's a trauma survivor, and she's been a very
powerful organizer around rights of people for psychiatric ‑‑
with psychiatric disabilities.
So
that has been just a tremendous inspiration to me, to see how she has worked so
hard for a recovery model for mental illness, and really helping other people
with psychiatric disabilities discover that there is, you know,
life after a psychiatric illness diagnosis.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: That's right.
And
you know what?
That
is a tremendous impact right there alone, because I know that until I met Tony
Coelho, I would always say I had a seizure disorder, until I met him.
And
heard him talk about his experiences with epilepsy, and he had that type of
impact on me, and I just think so highly of Tony and he's been a great mentor
for me.
But
there's no doubt about it, just when you meet someone with a disability like
your own, who is open and lives with it and is doing something positive ‑‑
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Mm‑hmm.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: ‑‑ it has a tremendous impact on you.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: Absolutely.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: So, Alison, what advice do you have for Americans who have
psychiatric disabilities that are not only facing stigma, but also facing the
lack of employment opportunities right here in the
What
advice do you have for them?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: The thing that really helped me when I was first
leaving ‑‑ when I first left the hospital and was struggling
to be reintegrated into society and feel comfortable in the community,
was really to find people who loved me and supported me.
And
I think that this is really essential for people who have gone through very
difficult experiences as being diagnosed with a psychiatric illness is.
And
I think that, you know, finding a support group or even founding a peer support
organization is a really tremendous way to not just get support from other
people, but give support to others who are going through similar very difficult
experiences.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: I agree with you 100%.
And
I hope you heard that one part where Alison said, you yourself starting a
support group.
Because
once again, do something.
Use
Alison as a role model, do something about it.
And,
you know, as to employers, do you have any word for employers today who are not
hiring people with psychiatric disabilities?
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: I think that people really ‑‑ they need
to give every individual an opportunity without discrimination.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: You need to focus on the ability.
>>
ALISON HILLMAN: That's correct.
>>
JOYCE BENDER: And, Alison, we are just so proud to have you in this
country, and have you on this show today.
And
I always end every show with a quote.
And
this quote is from Justin Dart from the Second National Summit of Mental
Health, where he said, "One of the first priorities of the empowerment
society will be real rights for all, including people with psychiatric
disabilities, and psychiatric survivors.
We
must guarantee to each person with and without a psychiatric disability the
tools to create the good life."
And
doesn't that say it all?
This
is
And
I will be back next week with "Disability Matters."
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playing ]
>>
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join us next Tuesday at 2 p.m. Eastern time for another installment of
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VoiceAmerica.com.
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