How is Neurodiversity (mis)Understood and (mis)Treated in the Law and by Psychiatry?
Description
About our Lived Experience Event
To what extent is neurodiversity pathologised and criminalised in Victoria? Why are neurodiverse people policed, incarcerated, misdiagnosed and institutionalised (and why do we have our human rights curtailed) at much higher rates than neurotypical people?
For those of us who have been arrested and incarcerated or admitted and institutionalised, it seems obvious neither our criminal justice nor our mental health systems are neurodiversity-informed or -responsive. Neurodivergent folk are significantly over-represented in Victoria's mental health and criminal justice systems, constituting at least 50% of all people incarcerated or institutionalised. Many of us who find ourselves in institutional care are un- or mis-diagnosed, and our treatment may be profoundly inappropriate as a consequence.
Despite the recent Royal Commission into systemic failures of Victoria's Mental Health Service (our medical industrial complex) and because of the increasing privatization of our prison systems (our prison industrial complex) our criminal justice and acute mental health systems continue to be primarily carceral. This despite strong advocacy from people with lived experience for it to be otherwise. How has it come to this? What do Neurodivergency Paradigm advocates and Mad Pride activists offer up as alternatives?
This event will outline the laws and charters, as they stand, in regard to the (mis)diagnosis, (mis)understanding, (mis)apprehension and (mis)treatment of neurodivergent people and explore what we know about what plays out when neurodivergent people encounter the police or the CAT Team; end up in neurotypically-managed regimes -psychiatric hospitals, mental health units, criminal courts and prisons; and what are the consequences for those who seek care, or would benefit from education and rehabilitation, in systems that too often fail to sufficiently understand neurodiversity, and in doing so, perpetuate prejudicial treatment, exacerbating harms and reinforcing trauma.
About our Lived Experience Event Guest Speakers
Ben Waters is an autistic person, advocate and researcher, bringing a unique perspective to his work with over 20 years of experience in public policy and politics in Australia and the UK. Ben's personal experience navigating the criminal justice system and identifying significant gaps in knowledge and supports around autism led him and his sister, Dani, to co-found the nonprofit organisation, Project 1in70. Ben is currently undertaking his PhD at the University of Tasmania, focusing on the lived experiences of autistic people who have connected with the criminal justice system. His research aims to develop more effective policy frameworks that support autistic people within criminal justice settings. Ben's work bridges academic research with practical, evidence-based policy, using co-design principles that centre on lived experience.
Dani Grigoriev is a community worker, advocate, student, and co-founder of Project 1in70. Dani's background was not originally in social justice and advocacy; her passion for these fields emerged after the arrest of her brother, Ben. Dani's experience helping her brother navigate the system was fraught with misunderstandings, stigmatisms and harmful language surrounding his autism and mental health, from criminal justice institutions and professionals, including police, courts, defence and prosecution lawyers, the media, and the wider community.
Project 1in70 advocates for criminal justice system reform, autism awareness, and educational initiatives. Ben and Dani’s focus as Co-Founders of Project 1in70 is to continue highlighting the issues faced by vulnerable people connecting with the criminal justice system, particularly those with autism. Project 1in70 aims to educate and challenge policymakers and criminal justice professionals to increase supports for autistic people within those systems and improve long-term outcomes. This work ensures that the future needs of autistic people and other vulnerable populations are at the forefront of policymakers' decision-making. Dani and Ben have provided professional development to criminal justice professionals and helped organisations guide their autism policy by drawing on lived experiences. They have delivered autism training to a range of criminal justice professionals, including Victorian Supreme Court judges and legal practitioners through the Judicial College of Victoria and Victoria Legal Aid.
Dr Chris Maylea is a social worker, lawyer, and Professor of Law at La Trobe University and Associate Director of Care Economy Research Institute. He has practice experience in mental health services as a social worker and manager, provides advice to government and policy reform bodies. Professor Maylea’s work sits at the intersections of health, welfare and the law, and is underpinned by human rights and social justice. He is the author of over 80 peer-reviewed publications and commissioned reports, and is the author of 'Social work and the Law: a guide for ethical practice'.
He has conducted evaluations of health and advocacy services, empirical research on interdisciplinary practice advance statements, gender-based violence in mental health inpatient units, child protection, elder abuse, and doctrinal and human rights analyses. His work uses codesign approaches, with a focus on promoting the voice of people who use health and welfare services.
Professor Maylea's research has informed major legislative reforms and shaped the design of national and state level services, improving access to rights-based support for people subject to discrimination and oppression. His evaluations have been adopted by legal aid commissions, advocacy organisations and governments, demonstrating measurable change in service delivery and policy settings.
Professor Maylea has extensive experience before the Victorian Mental Health Tribunal as a legal representative. He previously managed and evaluated mainstream Aboriginal and child and family community mental health services, rehabilitation units and assertive outreach and support services in regional areas. He has served as Chair and Deputy Chair of the Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC).
Flick Grey finds it hard to put into words exactly what she does for work ... when I try to explain it to acquaintances, it's near-impossible to distil. I'm not particularly skilled at superficialities. When pressed at border security, I say "I work as a consultant in mental health" because if I were to say "I'm a professional mad person and over-sharer who enjoys fostering critical cultural conversations about madness and other culturally devalued experiences", they may just say "I'm sorry, what?" or worse, take me into custody (as happened to a colleague of mine who was coming into Australia to be keynote at a fancy mental health conference).
I was the kind of kid who won lots of awards - I have been repeatedly deemed "intelligent" by the powers that be - I was in the Australian Chemistry Olympiad training squad (nerd Olympics), won a prize for my honors thesis in Linguistics, and for History and Philosophy of Law, duxed my posh school ... but no one (not even me) realised I was working hard to cover up emotional pain, believing if I won enough awards, maybe I'd be OK. So I won't write a workaholic, achieve-aholic, kyriarchal bio here. Many of the most delightful, savvy folks I know have ended up with their education or employment derailed, in psych hospitals or prisons, or using drugs or work or sex or people-pleasing to self-medicate pain.
Some of the things that light me up include potent ideas, creativity, learning, new perspectives, weaving human and more-than-human life throughout my work, having enough flexibility in my day to sit in the sun and read and not be stressed that I have "too much important work to do".
At a university level, I'm trained in linguistics (honors) and social theory (post grad diploma). I have a half-finished law degree (I got bored by legal thinking and kept critiquing the fundamental premises) and a nearly-finished PhD (social theory) and Masters in Social Work (both of which I intend to complete soon, madness willing). My heart is in Mad Studies, Intentional Peer Support, Open Dialogue, Warm Data and Alternatives to Suicide. I believe we need cultural space to think and speak about madness, what it is to be human in a world that is often tough, as well as very tender. I love being part of holding and enlarging that space.
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