On Sunday we arrived in the beautiful city of Galway. It is absolutely gorgeous here. The city is right on the water and has a little city center that reminds me of the North End in Boston. It feels like I’m at the Cape, Boston Harbor, and the North End all at the same time. It’s absolutely spectacular, not to mention the weather has been grand since we’ve arrived.
Today we began the International Disability Law Summer School Conference. This year’s conference focuses on psychosocial disability or mental health/illness. We heard a variety of individuals discuss various aspects of psychosocial disability. The panel that I found most interesting was in the morning and discussed service users’ perspective on the CRPD. I think I was particularly interested in this panel because I really enjoy hearing individuals’ life stories and accounts, and this panel touched a little bit on that. I particularly found Jolijn Santegoeds the most interesting on the panel. One of the reasons I found her interesting was because she is from the Netherlands and that was the country that I wrote my country paper on. It was interesting to hear a first hand account about her experience in the country that I previously did research on. I also really liked her because she had awesome ideas, but was able to present them in a way that everyone in the room could understand. She also really opened up my eyes to the worldwide problems regarding mental health. I thought that the mental health practices around the world were similar to the United States’s where there are therapists, psychiatrists, holistic approaches, and then treatment facilities as a last resort. I didn’t realize how horrendous today’s treatment options are for individuals with mental health problems. I thought most of those “treatment” options (ex: solitary confinement) were a thing of the past. I clearly need to be more informed about human rights violations in my own country and on an international scale.
After talking to my peers about the session, I have mixed feelings regarding the conference. One friend made a point that the conference is not accessible to everyone, which I didn’t realize until she pointed it out. It’s an ironic statement to make because the whole point of the conference is to provide more accessibility to those who don’t have it. The lectures are long and require everyone to remain seated. For someone with ADHD, for example, this could be very difficult. I don’t have ADHD, but I found it extremely difficult to sit and focus for hours while someone was lecturing. I also found the conference somewhat inaccessible for the participants regardless of whether they have a disability or not due to the terminology and way the speakers presented. I don’t have an intellectual disability, but trying to follow some of the concepts and theories the speakers had was difficult. I’d assume that it probably could be difficult for an individual with an intellectual disability to follow as well. I think if they made the presentations more basic and dumbed it down it would be easier for participants to remain engaged and would actually know what the speakers were talking about. That’s why I really enjoyed when Jolijin spoke. She didn’t make her answers overly complicated and got her message across instead of rambling like other speakers did at times. Additionally, there is a language barrier between participants, so using advanced/complicated terminology can make it difficult for participants to understand what is being presented.
In future days I really hope to hear more about individuals’ personal stories with their psychosocial disability and to learn more about the prison system in regards to psychosocial disability.