Table 2

Actions at national level

Action

By

• Use a social model of disability that refers to human rights, social inclusion and citizenship

• Governments and non governmental organisations (NGOs) to change core concepts

• Apply the anti-discrimination laws to give parity to people with physical and mental disabilities

• Parliament and government

• Inform all employers of their legal obligations under these laws

• Ministry of Employment or equivalent

• Interpret anti-discrimination laws in relation to mental illness

• Judiciary and legal profession

• Establish service user speakers' bureaux to offer content to news stories and features on mental illness

• NGOs and other national level service user groups

• Provide and evaluate media watch response units to press for balanced coverage

• Statutory funding for NGOs to provide media watch teams

• Share between countries the experience of disability discrimination acts

• Legislators, lawyers, advocates and consumer groups

• Understand and implement international legal obligations under binding declarations and covenants

• NGOs to communicate legal obligations of all stakeholders and health and social care inspection agencies to audit how far these obligations are respected in practice

• Audit compliance with codes of good practice in providing insurance

• Associations of Insurers with Service User organisations and mental health NGOs

• Providing economic incentives rather than disincentives to disabled people ready to return to work

• Employment Ministries to introduce new and flexible arrangements for disabled people to work with no risk to their income

• Change laws to allow people with a history of mental illness to serve on juries with a presumption of competence

• Justice ministries to amend the laws relating to jury service

Thornicroft et al. International Journal of Mental Health Systems 2008 2:3   doi:10.1186/1752-4458-2-3