COSP Side Event Proposed by TCI Asia Pacific
TCI AP, supported by the International Disability Alliance and the Open Society Foundation, ran a successful social media campaign, #WhatWENeed, strategically around the International Mental Health Week, October 2018-December 2018. The occasion for the campaign was the momentum within the global mental health sector, and the series of academic and policy developments, particularly the Lancet Global Mental Health Commission and the special issue of the World Psychiatric Association, to “save the CRPD from itself”. Against this background, TCI AP asked its communities from the Asia and Pacific regions, to articulate “What we need” as a way of amplifying our voices in response to these developments.
The side event invites partners and participants to articulate #WhatWENeed to do, as multiple stake holders within Disability Inclusive Development, towards the full inclusion of persons with psychosocial disabilities.
Some thematic questions for the side event could be –
1) Efforts that need to happen within policy environments in global, regional and national levels, to facilitate a new vision for persons with psychosocial disabilities towards full inclusion
2) Role of cross disability organizations at the national level to enable and facilitate DPO formation within countries
3) Efforts within Development Aid agencies, their policies and strategies, to support programs that are CRPD compliant, and have outcomes of inclusion, rather than medical treatment; support measures towards de-institutionalization
The Side Event will also give voice to critical mental health, referencing the Bali Declaration as a baseline, raising serious concerns about the open resistance of medical professionals to CRPD standards.
