Tory candidate ‘suggests mentally ill people should wear wristbands’

[Jazzy]

A Conservative parliamentary candidate has apparently suggested that mental health patients should wear wristbands to identify their conditions.

Chamali Fernando, who is the Tory candidate for Cambridge, said at a hustings event hosted by the campaign group Keep Our NHS Public that wearing a wristband to indicate the nature of a mentally ill person’s condition would be helpful to professionals to whom certain people cannot explain their condition.

Her comments were met with outrage.

Political bloggers questioned whether the alleged comments by Ms. Fernando, a barrister with 12 years experience, were reflective of the Conservative party’s view on mental health or were her own personal views.

Her words were called ‘shocking’ and she was accused of seeking to further isolate people whose conditions are already stigmatized.

‘She said as a barrister she would like to be able to help mentally ill people and suggested there should be more training for people in these kind of positions in common mental health conditions,’ said political blogger Richard Taylor.

‘She then said suggested a different colored wristband for each mental health condition for those who are unable to communicate their conditions.

In a statement to the Cambridge News, she said: ‘The question that was asked is how could the authorities such as the police better deal with mental health issues.

‘At Cambridge National Autistic Hustings the chairman of CNAS said he carries a green card in his wallet to identify his condition.

‘There are people who have come into contact with the police and due to an underlying mental health condition are unable to communicate their condition.

Source

Thoughts?

 

[mrldii]

Wristbands fall off and can be hidden by clothing. Perhaps it would be *better* to just tattoo it across their foreheads.



It's *nice* to know that the U.S. does not have a monopoly on the idiot politicians.

 

[Jazzy]

I suggest someone tattoos the word STUPID across her forehead.

 

[Wonko]

Not sure I see why this is such a bad idea, after all we have medical alert bracelets for other conditions so why is it wrong for mental health issues??

 

[michonne]

Not that long ago in the U.S.....

American eugenics refers inter alia to compulsory sterilization laws adopted by over 30 states that led to more than 60,000 sterilizations of disabled individuals. Many of these individuals were sterilized because of a disability: they were mentally disabled or ill, or belonged to socially disadvantaged groups living on the margins of society. American eugenic laws and practices implemented in the first decades of the twentieth century influenced the much larger National Socialist compulsory sterilization program, which between 1934 and 1945 led to approximately 350,000 compulsory sterilizations and was a stepping stone to the Holocaust. Even after the details of the Nazi sterilization program (as well as its role as a precursor to the "Euthanasia" murders) became more widely known after World War II (and which the New York Times had reported on extensively and in great detail even before its implementation in 1934), sterilizations in some American states did not stop. Some states continued to sterilize residents into the 1970s.


http://www.uvm.edu/~lkaelber/eugenics/

 

[Sinon]

Doesn't seem like a bad idea, to me. Saying it shouldn't be done because 'it could fall off' is a bit weak. I shouldn't need a driving license, I could lose my wallet after all. There are people with mental disabilities who can't formulate their thoughts in an understandable manner, so being able to look at a wristband and instantly know the nature of their disability seems like a useful thing.

 

[mrldii]

...Saying it shouldn't be done because 'it could fall off' is a bit weak...

It was intended to be "weak", as it was a sarcastic indication of how strongly my opposition to the idea of others' - no matter how well-intentioned and well-educated - branding others within a society. "Mental health patients" include anyone who's been diagnosed with depression, which includes postpartum depression. I'm curious who gets to decide who wears wrist bands - doctors? Psychologists? Psychiatrists? Where's the line drawn? Anti-psychotics so someone doesn't go on a homicidal rage? A sleeping pill when stressed? A Midol for PMS?

Here in the U.S. (anyway), we have HIPPA regulations. *Making* people wear wristbands to display their (mental) condition is a complete contradiction TO the terms and conditions OF HIPPA. I'm not a big fan of governments making laws and regulations and then, later, passing laws and regulations just to ensure their OWN job security.

 

[michonne]

@mrldii I agree...hence the post I made earlier.....posted to demonstrate how moronic society can be....I think it's barbaric, ignorant, and primitive.....

 

[Dee]

It was intended to be "weak", as it was a sarcastic indication of how strongly my opposition to the idea of others' - no matter how well-intentioned and well-educated - branding others within a society. "Mental health patients" include anyone who's been diagnosed with depression, which includes postpartum depression. I'm curious who gets to decide who wears wrist bands - doctors? Psychologists? Psychiatrists? Where's the line drawn? Anti-psychotics so someone doesn't go on a homicidal rage? A sleeping pill when stressed? A Midol for PMS?

Here in the U.S. (anyway), we have HIPPA regulations. *Making* people wear wristbands to display their (mental) condition is a complete contradiction TO the terms and conditions OF HIPPA. I'm not a big fan of governments making laws and regulations and then, later, passing laws and regulations just to ensure their OWN job security.

Hell, that would include me for me anxiety and depression. But I'm just a high functioning member of society who has two jobs and takes care of their responsibilities. I guess I need to be branded as suffering from mental health conditions

 

[Sinon]

...you do realise the idea was formulated for people who cannot explain their conditions right? If you can tell people you have depression, this doesn't affect you. I imagine it's geared more towards people rendered unable to speak, have the mind of an infant, etc. Not people who get a bit sad from time to time.

 

[michonne]

...you do realise the idea was formulated for people who cannot explain their conditions right? If you can tell people you have depression, this doesn't affect you. I imagine it's geared more towards people rendered unable to speak, have the mind of an infant, etc. Not people who get a bit sad from time to time.

Someone who's disability is that severe...having the mind of an infant, would require constant care...they'd not be walking around in society....what is the need for such a wristband??? Perhaps we should just brand them like cattle

 

[mrldii]

...you do realise the idea was formulated for people who cannot explain their conditions right? If you can tell people you have depression, this doesn't affect you. I imagine it's geared more towards people rendered unable to speak, have the mind of an infant, etc. Not people who get a bit sad from time to time.

Define "cannot explain their condition(s)". Unable to formulate the thought, due to a form of mental retardation? Unable to formulate a sentence, due to an epileptic seizure? Due to a heart attack? A stroke? Or, due to being stumbling drunk?


Some of you have taken this to mean this legislation will ONLY brand 'those crazy, mentally-deranged, and obviously schizophrenic folk'...and have determined that it is in no way opening Pandora's Box, where *they* come for you next due to your "mental health condition", which *they* have decreed - and branded! - you to have...all with your tacit approval, because - after all -


*they* weren't talking about you [at the time the *brilliant* idea was conceived].