Mental health articles

Legal Protection for Parents With Mental Disorders
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the ADA Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) are federal laws that may help to protect persons with disabilities (PWDs) against discrimination in the courts as well as in other areas. The ADA and the ADAAA prohibit discrimination based on disability in employment, housing,
and public accommodations. Courts are places of public accommodation, so court personnel are prohibited from discriminating against PWD and must make reasonable accommodations for PWD, so that PWD will be able to participate in court proceedings on an equal footing with nondisabled litigants.
Originally, under the ADA, physically disabled individuals, not mentally disabled individuals, more often sought protection under that statute. Now, after the passage of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, more mentally disabled individuals will be able to be protected. In 2009, the EEOC issued proposed regulations to implement the ADAAA, which include “Examples of Impairments that Will Consistently Meet the Definition of Disability”: Major depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive
disorder, or schizophrenia, which substantially limit major life activities including [but not
limited to] functions of the brain, thinking, concentrating, interacting with others, sleeping,
or caring for oneself.
This change in the regulations will make it easier for persons with mental disabilities to qualify for accommodations under the ADA, especially when read together with other parts of the regulations and of the ADAAA that lessen the burden of proving that a disability “substantially limits major life activities”.

Additionally, custody statutes in some states specifically caution against discrimination based on disability, which would include psychiatric disability. A prohibition on discrimination does not mean that the effects of a disability on the children must be ignored, but it does certainly mean that myths and assumptions about the abilities of disabled parents to effectively parent their children must not be tolerated.

Tags: disorders, mental, mental disorders