Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
voices from the global south arrow for change | vol. 23 no. 3 2017
The mental health fraternity has been disability is largely a product of the social We also have to remember that mental
the moral and medical gatekeeper, and milieu we live in. Using this frame will also health institutions are patriarchal and
has pathologised sexuality. For example, extend the coverage of programmes and oppressive. Even after recovery, if women
a trans person who is transitioning from schemes for persons with disability to are found to be self-pleasuring, they are
male to female is treated differently by people with psychosocial disability. labelled as ill and are recommitted to
mental health professionals, compared mental health institutions.
to a person transitioning from female to There is a huge lacuna within
male. There is a huge lacuna within the Even reproductive health becomes very
the system; since there are no
system; since there are no rights-based stressful, because the moment you take
guidelines, there is a lot of arbitrariness in
rights-based guidelines, there medication, your whole reproductive
how mental health professionals deal with is a lot of arbitrariness in how cycle goes awry. There is so much anxiety
sexual minorities. It often depends on how mental health professionals deal amongst women around whether they can
empathetic they will be. with sexual minorities. It often become pregnant or not, particularly given
how important motherhood is considered
depends on how empathetic they
The framing of the mental health in South Asia. On the other hand, when
establishment, in general, is patriarchal, will be. they have given birth, the babies are often
with the diagnostic criteria based on a snatched away from them. I once saw a
male, white, heterosexual bias, and this What are the key issues related to woman who gave birth in the psych ward
is also true even in the Indian context. sexuality and SRHR of people with whose baby was taken away and given
Anything other than that is viewed as a psychosocial disabilities? for adoption. The woman was beaten
disorder or pathology. It is thus important up because the nurses thought she had
to consider who is at the centre of People with psychosocial disabilities some illicit love affair since she was found
psychiatry—it is certainly not a woman, do not have access to information wandering out of the house, but who are
nor a woman of colour, nor a woman and services and to privacy, and they they to even ask and judge?
of colour who is poor and illiterate, experience barriers related to expressing
nor a poor, illiterate woman of colour their desires and having relationships. “Using the psychosocial
living in a rural area, and most certainly
disability frame also means
not a poor, illiterate woman of colour However, when we say that persons with
living in rural area who is a bisexual or a psychosocial disabilities are asexual, taking the focus away from the
lesbian. Although homosexuality has been it is not that people in mental health medical identity of the illness,
removed from diagnostic nomenclature, institutions do not have sexual desires, to the social factors related to
attitudes haven’t changed. ideation, and wishes. Asexuality is
the illness, as disability is largely
imposed on them because if they are
Can you explain the two different not asexual, then they are pathological.
a product of the social milieu
frames: mental health and psychosocial On the other hand, the perception that we live in. Using this frame
disability? What are the advantages of people with psychosocial disabilities are will also extend the coverage of
talking in one frame versus the other? hypersexual is a myth. In my 25-year programmes and schemes for
career, I have not seen someone who is
Whether someone has a psychosocial “sexually hyperactive.” Most people who
persons with disability to people
disability or not is a choice of that come to us cannot practice affirmative with psychosocial disability.”
individual. I may be suffering from serious sexuality because they do not have
mental illness—which could be depression, access to information, contraception, or Psychosocial disability is experienced
bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or any places where they can build relationships. throughout the woman’s life cycle,
other illness—but whether I identify as A lot of them are unemployed (since especially in relation to reproductive
someone with a psychosocial disability their mobility is often curtailed), and health, such as post-partum depression.
depends on my own politics and my own because most of them are poor, they Please share your thoughts.
choice. Using the psychosocial disability live in cramped spaces where there is no
frame also means taking the focus away privacy, not even for self-pleasure. It’s true. Post-partum depression is so
from the medical identity of the illness, to common, and yet it goes completely
the social factors related to the illness, as unrecognised. Sadness is normalised in
23
voices from the global south arrow for change | vol. 23 no. 3 2017
our society, and sadness is so gendered— Given the status of sexual and
women will cry—so it goes unrecognised. reproductive health of people with
Society tells you that now that you have a psychosocial disabilities, what are some
baby, what are you being sad about? You of your recommendations? Ratnaboli Ray can be contacted at
have to suppress your sadness because ratnaboli@anjalimhro.org.
giving birth is a joyous occasion; that is Even if we are working with the recovery
the construct. care model (which espouses that people Notes & References
Generally, peers are the sources of What makes you passionate about
information, and therefore these are all this work? Who are or what is your
half-baked; then there is pornography, inspiration?
which can also be unreal.
I have witnessed mental health issues
Sexuality education is not offered from very, very close quarters. Two of my
in institutions because people with aunts were diagnosed with schizophrenia
psychosocial disabilities are perceived and were locked away from public gaze in
as low-risk. There is a lot of curtailment institutions. I also grew up in an extremely
and careful separation between male and liberal family committed to social work.
female wards. There is no sexual policy I have always interacted with so-called
for patients in institutions. In fact, one of marginalised people; my best friends were
our long-term objectives of working with from informal settlements.
the sexuality lens is to get the government
to come out with such a policy—where Any final thoughts?
patients have the right to privacy, where
they can have space for self-pleasure if Let us not invisibilise people who are
they want, for example. different from us, who have a history of
mental illness. Let us embrace them, and
let us live.