Who speaks for the silent constituency?
Referring to the plight of the relative of a friend who has since died, Mr McGee writes that if he had lived, it's likely that he would still be in "a spartan and locked ward with no stimulation, with nurses and aides being unable to do anything more than corral him from bed to dayroom to dinner table and back to bed again."
In these affluent times nobody should have to live in these conditions but, as Mr McGee reports, one of Amnesty's conclusions was that "in Ireland systemic discrimination against people with mental illness is an abuse of their human rights, and this situation of inequality will persist for as long as society tolerates it."
With so many families (voters) affected by mental illness and the added suffering caused by the huge lack of resources, why are we so lagging behind mainland Europe, the US and the rest of the developed world?
Is it that we who are on the receiving end are so taken up with the struggle for survival that we lack energy to unite or is it down to the stigma that is still associated with mental illness?
Joan Hamilton,
Dromina,
Charleville,
Co Cork.
