The rights of people with disability detained for compulsory treatment: Social and legal perspectives from the UK and Australia

The Disability Research Initiative is hosting an afternoon seminar on the rights of persons with disabilities who are detained for compulsory treatment. The seminar will compare UK and Australian approaches and explore social work, legal, academic and lived perspectives.

SPEAKERS

Charlotte Scott (University of Leeds, UK)

With a background as a social worker in community mental health services, Charlotte Scott is now a PhD student in the School of Healthcare, University of Leeds, UK. Her research explores how decisions are made during Mental Health Act 2007 assessments from the perspective of mental health workers and also those individuals that are being assessed. One outcome of these assessments is compulsory admission to hospital and thus this area of decision making has the power to deprive an individual of their liberty. Charlotte used observational methods to shed further light on this topic and will discuss how she gained ethical approval to involve research participants who may be experiencing emotional distress at the time of recruitment. Having completed her fieldwork she reflects on the use of these methods and how her values as a practitioner researcher both informed and underpinned her approach.

Eleanore Fritze (Victoria Legal Aid)

Eleanore Fritze is a Melbourne-based lawyer who has worked in various roles at Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) for the last eleven years. She is currently acting deputy managing lawyer of VLA’s Mental Health and Disability Law (MHDL) program, where she advises and advocates before courts and tribunals on behalf of people who are subject to detention, supervision, compulsory treatment or restrictions on their rights under Victoria’s mental health and disability laws. In 2015, Eleanore undertook a Churchill Fellowship, conducting research in the US, England and Hungary to explore how to better protect the human rights and dignity of people with disabilities, who have been detained in closed environments for compulsory treatment, through the use of innovative legal services. She has previously worked as a personal carer and has also completed post-graduate disability studies.

Dr Chris Maylea (RMIT)

Dr Chris Maylea is a lawyer, social worker and academic with a lived experience of mental illness diagnosis. He lectures in social work at RMIT University in Melbourne where he is a member of the Centre for Applied Social Research, and provides pro bono legal services through the Mental Health Legal Centre. Chris has managed community mental health and injury management services, and worked extensively in youth homelessness.

This is a free event but registration is essential.