Mental health policy and practice across Europe: an overview

54 Mental health policy and practice
disabled people, including persons with psychiatric disabilities, will be
included in this world-wide development. To achieve this it is a responsibility
we must all share. 3
To be excluded even from the ‘disability inclusion’ agenda is problematic,
since this agenda is itself marginalized from broader social and economic policy.
Disability discussions tend to focus on the issue of rights, which attracts consensus
but often fails to generate active policies that improve conditions for
people (European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working
Conditions 2003).
In the next phase of EU policy development the key issue is mainstreaming.
This means mental health policy analysts and advocates should be building the
mainstream rationale for inclusion – not arguing only from the basis of distinct
policy and rights.
To give an example, Burchardt (2000) notes that in Britain disabled people
make up half of those who are out of work and want to work; and a third of those
ready to start in a fortnight. Would any reasonable employer, especially in times
of low unemployment, screen out half of all potential recruits? Would any
government aiming to increase employment participation leave so many (disabled)
people out of its policy equation? As Burchardt puts it, ‘anti-poverty
strategies will need to take into account the needs of disabled people as a central
part of the programme, not just as a special case with a token budget’ (p. 65).
Social exclusion of disabled people needs to come out of the ghetto of ‘disability
policy’ or even ‘disability rights policy’; and mental health policy-makers need
to join in.
In Europe, mental health problems account for 25 per cent of new disability
benefits cases, and this share is rising (European Foundation for the Improvement
of Living and Working Conditions 2003). Mainstream policy-makers are
seeking solutions. If disability policy-makers and advocates can offer costeffective
ways of increasing social participation, including for people with
mental health problems, there is a chance they will be heard (see Box 3.3).
Box 3.3
Policy directions for greater inclusion
• Policy-makers need to focus on inclusion, not mental health services
alone.
• They should support multi-level, multi-faceted anti-discrimination
initiatives.
• They should view the inclusion of mental health service users through
the mainstream lens of policies on education, employment or
economic regeneration, and devise mainstream solutions.
• Mental health policy-makers and advocates need to work with others
in disability and wider networks to bring mental health policy into
wider agendas.