{"id":21239,"date":"2013-07-23T08:35:55","date_gmt":"2013-07-23T13:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=21239"},"modified":"2013-08-06T11:16:22","modified_gmt":"2013-08-06T16:16:22","slug":"the-rights-of-the-mentally-handicapped","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2013\/07\/23\/the-rights-of-the-mentally-handicapped\/","title":{"rendered":"The rights of the mentally handicapped"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Washington Post<\/em>, Theresa Vargas<\/a> covers the struggles of Margaret Jean “Jenny” Hatch, who is fighting a court case to be allowed to take greater control of her own fate.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t her turn to talk, but early on during a hearing that will determine the limits of her independence, Margaret Jean Hatch stood up in a Newport News courtroom and cut the judge off in mid-sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need guardianship,\u201d she declared. \u201cI don\u2019t want it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRemove her from the courtroom,\u201d the judge demanded.<\/p>\n

\u201cJudge, she\u2019s very upset with this,\u201d the woman\u2019s attorney began.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t do it,\u201d Hatch pleaded.<\/p>\n

Hatch, a diminutive blonde known as \u201cJenny,\u201d learned to read at the age of 6, has volunteered on political campaigns (always for Republicans) and once, after finding a job she wanted, showed up repeatedly until she got it. She also has Down syndrome, an IQ of 52 and tends to shower affection on strangers as well as friends.<\/p>\n

The details of Jenny Hatch\u2019s life have come under scrutiny in a complicated guardianship case that is pitting her wishes against those of her parents and testing the rights of adults with disabilities to choose how they live. The 29-year-old wants to move in with friends and continue the life she had, working at a thrift shop and riding her bike everywhere. Her parents want her to remain in a group home, supervised and protected.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

H\/T to Tyler Cowen<\/a>, who writes:<\/p>\n

On the basis of what I can glean from this article, I vote for Jenny […] <\/p>\n

This is a much-neglected issue, and not just for Down Syndrome individuals. At a time when Edward Snowden, drones, and Gitmo are leading many people to reexamine many civil liberties issues, this one ought to be put on the table as well. It needs its Radley Balko. Ask yourself a simple question: if you don\u2019t require guardianship, and yet have been placed under the legal guardianship of another, practically speaking how strong are your rights? What chances of amendment or redress do you really have and in the meantime how can you represent yourself?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Update, 6 August<\/b>: The Washington Post<\/em><\/a> reports on the outcome of the case.<\/p>\n

In a victory for the rights of adults with disabilities, a judge declared Friday that a 29-year-old woman with Down syndrome can live the life she wants, rejecting a guardianship request from her parents that would have allowed them to keep her in a group home against her will.<\/p>\n

The ruling thrilled Jenny Hatch and her supporters, who included some of the country\u2019s most prominent disability advocates. <\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God,\u201d Hatch said over and over again, shedding tears. \u201cI\u2019m so happy to go home today. I deserve it. It\u2019s over. My God, it\u2019s over.\u201d <\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Legally, Hatch\u2019s case came down to two questions: Was she an incapacitated adult in need of a guardian, and, if so, who would best serve in that role \u2014 her mother and stepfather, or Morris and Talbert?<\/p>\n

But for national experts on the rights of people with disabilities, several of whom testified on Hatch\u2019s behalf, the case was about much more. It was about an individual\u2019s right to choose how to live and the government\u2019s progress in providing the help needed to integrate even those with the most profound needs into the community.<\/p>\n

In the end, Newport News Circuit Court Judge David F. Pugh said he believed that Hatch, who has an IQ of about 50, needed a guardian to help her make decisions but that he had also taken into account her preferences. He designated Morris and Talbert her temporary guardians for the next year, with the goal of ultimately helping her achieve more independence. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the Washington Post, Theresa Vargas covers the struggles of Margaret Jean “Jenny” Hatch, who is fighting a court case to be allowed to take greater control of her own fate. It wasn\u2019t her turn to talk, but early on during a hearing that will determine the limits of her independence, Margaret Jean Hatch stood […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,13],"tags":[906,375,217],"class_list":["post-21239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-law","category-liberty","category-usa","tag-mentalhealth","tag-parents","tag-rights"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-5wz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21239"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21524,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21239\/revisions\/21524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}