Friday, April 11

Alison Hymes case: Mindfreedom forgets one of it's collaborators locked in a mental institution

??????
I have already posted about Alison Hymes. Back in 2011 Minfreedom started some activism to set her free but all of a sudden it has all stopped and nothing is said about what is happening with Alison Hymes.
At her Facebook account a cry for help appears from time to time.
I know it is not easy to fight the system but in same cases it is crucial that a lot of noise is done. The last time Mindfreedom posted anything at their site about Alison was in 2013: an action alert from Alison's Frank. (here)
All those activists linked or not to Mindfreedom forgot about her and when her name is mentioned... silence.
There  are people fearing that the drugs that the Virginia Hospital has given to her made her health deteriorate very seriously.

This is Alison's article that is at Mindfreedom that might soon disappear:

Fight for Human Rights in Virginian Mental Health System
by Alison Hymes

"Although those who live outside of Virginia could easily assume that the assault on the civil rights of people with psychiatric labels in Virginia started with the tragedy at Virginia Tech., that is not the case.

The assault on our rights started in fact with the creation of a Commission on Mental Health Law "Reform" by our state's Supreme Court Chief Justice in the Fall of 2006. This Commission has only two individuals who identify as mental health consumers or psychiatric survivors (consumer/survivors), and has five taskforces all with only token representation from consumer/survivors, none of whom were chosen by the state's consumer network but instead chosen by the Chair of the Commission, Richard Bonnie of the University of Virginia's Institute on Law and Psychiatry in consultation with the Chief Justice of our state Supreme Court.

The Commission has as its goal the deprivation of what little civil liberties consumer/survivors in this state have now, although of course that is not what is being stated in public.

What people outside of Virginia need to know is this is not just the usual attack on the right of people to be drug-free in their own homes, fighting so-called Kendra's Law. Nor is this just fighting for the right to be free of involuntary hospitalization, to prevent lowering the standard for commitment which is already so loose that only 9% of commitment hearings end in dismissal.

This is also an attack on:

the very little confidentiality left in this state
an attempt to get rid of independent evaluators in the commitment process
an attempt to lengthen the initial detention stay
an attempt to use conditional release (forced drugging) on civilly committed individuals for the first time legally in this state
an attempt to have the state pay for attorneys to represent family members and other petitioners in commitment hearings, and
an attempt to force people into coercive so-called voluntary hospitalization by threatening a longer stay if they do not "volunteer."

In fact, the chair of the Commission would like to have as few actual commitment hearings as possible and have most people "agree" to either outpatient commitment or inpatient stays before they ever have a hearing.

What happens in Virginia is being looked at by other states very closely. So please watch out for what is happening in your own state legislature and please send whatever good thoughts or prayers you can to consumer/survivors in Virginia in our fight to retain any of our civil liberties.

I want to especially thank Jim Gottstein of PsychRights for his generous and valuable assistance in our fight against these erosions of our civil rights over the last year.."

Other articles by Alison can be found at this page in Mindfreedom. Till when? I don't know.
I'm exercising my MAD PRIDE. I'm proud I'm angry and mad at things being the way they are.

Update 4, 14/2014
It is being hard to receive any information about Alison. This is what happened at Mindfreedom's Facebook:

MindFreedom International MindFreedom has not forgotten Alison Hymes. We have sent MFI Shield alerts in the past about her being forced drugged. This can only be requested by Alison. If you want to contact her, Frank Blankenship is a friend and keeps MindFreedom informed. Thanks, Ana Luiza for bringing this to our attention.
April 12 at 10:03am · Edited · Like

Ana Luiza I do not understand why Mindfreedom cannot inform it's followers about Alison Hymes. Whenever her name is raised she is the one responsible for her actions and the one who is being a "bad girl". Her fortune is up to her is what is being said between the lines. In 2011 some call for actions and ater that silence. Psychiatrists do not say what is happening and the activists are also withholding information. Kafka would love it.