poem by leah harris, a survivor of psychiatry in the u.s.

Article 12*


“Let the revolution begin” --Myra Kovary
For Tina, Celia, Daniel, and all who struggled in service of justice and truth at the UN for users and survivors of psychiatry.

For too long they have treated us without our permission--
Listen! We are human like the rest of humanity
Our so-called “insanity” is no excuse to deprive us of our liberty
Decision-making ability, or control over our own destinies.


Just because we are in distress doesn’t mean you can treat us
Under duress.
My body is my temple and you’ve no right to put
Electrodes on my temples and shock me against my wishes
Vicious how we are drugged against our will
Our sensitive systems flooded with toxic pills
And you try to tell us that we’re ill?


We may not make sense to you
Jive with your consensus reality
But you’ve not got the right to treat us with brutality
The lethality of your methods is well known
Treatments shown to impact our mortality
Lessen our lives by twenty-five years
Tears of humiliation I have shed at the indignities
Inflicted on me because you say I have a mental abnormality
And no right to my own autonomy.


Check it: Article 12 of the CRPD declares that
We’ve got the capacity to chart the course of our own existence
Our resistance to your psychiatric schemes
Your medical model regimes
Doesn’t mean you can deem us unfit
Now that’s some paternalistic bullshit!


We don’t need a “guardian” to make our choices
Article 12 says that our voices are valid and true
Now, I may want your help, but if I do, I’ll ask you.
Your support may be met with appreciation
But no longer can you “help” me without my cooperation
Respect my right to self-determination
And together we can build a new global foundation
Based on human rights and collective liberation.


(anti) copyright Leah Harris

* Article 12 - Equal recognition before the law
1. States Parties reaffirm that persons with disabilities have the right to recognition everywhere as persons before the law.

2. States Parties shall recognize that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others in all aspects of life.


3. States Parties shall take appropriate measures to provide access by persons with disabilities to the support they may require in exercising their legal capacity.


4. States Parties shall ensure that all measures that relate to the exercise of legal capacity provide for appropriate and effective safeguards to prevent abuse in accordance with international human rights law. Such safeguards shall ensure that measures relating to the exercise of legal capacity respect the rights, will and preferences of the person, are free of conflict of interest and undue influence, are proportional and tailored to the person's circumstances, apply for the shortest time possible and are subject to regular review by a competent, independent and impartial authority or judicial body. The safeguards shall be proportional to the degree to which such measures affect the person's rights and interests.


5. Subject to the provisions of this article, States Parties shall take all appropriate and effective measures to ensure the equal right of persons with disabilities to own or inherit property, to control their own financial affairs and to have equal access to bank loans, mortgages and other forms of financial credit, and shall ensure that persons with disabilities are not arbitrarily deprived of their property. Tweet