Blog 6 - ADA and Schizophrenia

Legal and Ethical Concerns

    A lot of the legal and ethical issues comes up when professionals are working with individuals who suffer from schizophrenia. They face specific challenges especially because schizophrenia affects the way that someone perceives reality and interpretations which can make problems for ethical dilemmas. Some of these ethical issues comes from early detection and prevention, access to care and opportunity, treatment choices, along with the political and social stigma from people with schizophrenia not getting the help they need because of it. 

    Early prevention and detection is extremely important for slowing or preventing the progression of schizophrenia to maximize treatment. In the United States it has been challenging to deliver these early preventions as those interventions have been implemented in countries where health care systems are centralized (Noordsy D. L. (2016.)

    Access to Care and Opportunity may experience many berries when it comes to health care, employment, and education. For health care, Evidence based practices of therapy like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for psychosis and cognitive remediation are mostly unavailable in clinical practices. The barrier's come when accessing comprehensive care by the type of their insurance (Noordsy D. L. 2016) Despite having the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA in place which helps protect the right of the people with psychiatric disorders or physical disabilities to have equal opportunity from their abled counterparts, discrimination is frequently a huge barrier for full range of work and educational opportunities. 

The majority of treatment choices for people with schizophrenia are antipsychotics. When taking those medications, it can cause a lot of side effects and can lead to a tug of war between providers convincing patients of the importance of taking these medications and patients seeking for other alternative interventions (Noordsy D. L. 2016)

Lastly, The political and social stigma surrounding schizophrenia can be pretty bad. The term back in the day was associated with negative meanings. Even political debates like gun voo;ence in the United States started going towards the mentally ill people saying that they are "dangerous" (Noordsy D. L. 2016.) The term can set people off as all these negative ideas surround the disorder, that fear can become so bad that clients and families may not even seek out help because of it (Noordsy D. L. 2016.) 

Meeting the Letter of the Law

    When it comes to people suffering with schizophrenia and the law or ADA it is sufficient where it helps people with disabilities have the equality that they need in order to have a better quality of life to their abled counterparts. The ADA is great at defining what a disability is and how it can help those who are disabled when it comes to the workforce, public, communication, and others. It is really great at helping those in need of reasonable accommodations which are adjustments or other assistances for disabled persons to have equal opportunities ( ADA National Network. (2021, November 11). 

Spirit of the Law

    When it comes to the spirit of the law and schizophrenia, it can be failed due to mental health disorders not being a external problem that is seen. When it comes down to it, a lot of individuals that struggle with mental health disorders or issues may be shot down when wanting accommodations or are scrutinized for it. A lot of society believes that mental disorders can not be accounted as a disability because it is not seen when in fact it can be as equally debilitating as a physical disorder. Out in public, if someone has a service dog and they 'seem' normal, they can be harassed about why they need the dog because they don't look disabled. 

Potential Issues impacting on Individuals, Family/Friends, Environment, and Society

  The most harm that comes to Individuals with schizophrenia their family/friends and other is the stigma. Individuals with schizophrenia may deem them as "crazy" or "dangerous," they may tell them that they need to be institutionalized instead of helped as they can "harm everyone around them" when in actuality, individuals with schizophrenia are people too and with the right interventions their symptoms can be reduced and they can have a better quality of life. If education on mental health was more prevalent the issues would dwindle a lot too. As someone with a mental disorder, we are able to accomplish a lot with the right support and intervention. I am able to go to college, have a healthy relationship, a lot of other people who suffer can do the same. However, a lot of people miss the mark where just because our struggles are not seen physically they have a hard time imagining that it is there. 

References

Noordsy D. L. (2016). Ethical Issues in the Care of People With Schizophrenia. Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing), 14(3), 349–353. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.focus.20160011

What is the Americans with disabilities act (ADA)? ADA National Network. (2021, November 11). Retrieved November 10, 2021, from https://adata.org/learn-about-ada.