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I *REALLY WISH* that the people celebrating non-police responses to people in mental health crisis would understand how so very many of their proposals will still result in forcing people into systems they don’t want to be in ...
... yeah, hopefully they’ll result in fewer people ending up dead at the hands of law enforcement but if you have never experienced forced psychiatric treatment, please sit down, be quiet, and listen to those of us who have.
If you have not had the experience of being frog marched into the back of an ambulance
If you have not had the experience of being injected with medication that you didn’t ask for
If you have not had the experience of being subjected to a cavity search
If you have not had the experience of being on a locked ward unable to leave
If you have not had the experience of being secluded in a room with nothing to sit on because you tried blocking the window with the mattress
Stop designing response systems that involve people who have the legal authority to write an order that can make all of that happen.
Stop celebrating your “reforms”
Start listening to survivors.
You’ll eventually learn why we aren’t celebrating with you
You’ll learn about the increased risk of suicide after forced hospitalizations
You’ll learn about the long-lasting impact of the trauma of forced psychiatric treatment
But y’all won’t be out in the streets protesting our deaths at the hands of the systems designed to help us
