Articles in Mental Health

Articles in Information

A blue and yellow BuDS infographic. There is a picture of the Supreme Court judges on the left. On the right is a text box reading "Huge legal change. Big impact on disabled people. UK law brought into line with ECHR. New test replaces Cheshire West. Safeguards radically reshaped. Full details not yet clear. No need to panic"

The Supreme Court’s Decision About ‘Deprivation of Liberty’

Andrew

The Supreme Court has made a key decision about when people legally can be said to be ‘deprived of their liberty’. Deprivation of liberty means that a person isn’t free to do or go where they wish because an official body or law is stopping them. A person locked up in a prison is the most obvious example of someone deprived of their liberty. However, other examples might be disabled people held under the Mental Health Act, or a disabled person who lives in a locked care home.

BuDS wants disabled people to get fair, accurate and balanced information. Media coverage of this important court case is often misleading or incomplete, so we have written our own guide. We have used only legal sources to do so.

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An image of two hospital beds beside each other, with a white curtain partially separating them.

BuDS’ Statement on DWP Work Coaches in Mental Health Hospitals

Ben Clark

User led disability charity Buckinghamshire Disability Service (BuDS) has criticised as ‘frightening and counter-productive’ Liz Kendall MP’s statement to the BBC that DWP Work Coaches will be offering employment support to inpatients in mental health hospitals.

In a statement issued by the charity, the Chair of Trustees, Andrew Clark, said:

“As a charity, we feel well qualified to speak on this matter. Not only does BuDS include people with mental health conditions, many of whom have been inpatients, but we support many people with mental health issues into work through our Reach4Work project. That project was led until recently by a person with bipolar affective disorder – see https://buds.org.uk/buds-bipolar-and-me-my-journey-with-reach4work/

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Ten and twenty pound notes spread out with coins on top of them

Card Only Payments May Discriminate Against Disabled People

Ben Clark

Since the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic, many shops, services, and businesses have started accepting only debit or credit card payments. This was originally done to reduce the small risk of passing on the virus by handling coins and notes.

However, many businesses quickly realised that not accepting cash has other advantages for them, such as cutting staff time, reducing theft risks, and reducing bank charges. For this reason, many shops and businesses have decided to stay ‘card only’ and not accept cash payments.

However, only accepting card payments may be discriminating against some disabled people who are unable to use cards because of their disability.

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