Mental Disabilities and Mental Health in Uganda

Everyone is equal before the law regardless of their disability. People with mental disabilities in Uganda are handicapped by outmoded and derogatory language used by the legal system, inaccessible courts and inappropriate accommodation. People with mental disabilities are often seen as subhuman and are not given their rights.

An article by MDAC the Mental Disability Advocacy Centre identifies the following problems:

• The use of outdated and discriminatory terminology such as "idiot", "persons of unsound mind" and "lunatic" in court papers and processes which entrench stigma;
• People with intellectual or psycho-social disabilities are legally denied the right to bring or defend cases and their evidence is deemed to lack credibility or refused;
• Some people with disabilities cannot navigate or understand the complex processes required to initiate or defend cases, and no support is provided to them to do so;
• Rigid application of rules of procedure in a way which is likely to deny substantive access to justice;
• Imposition of court fees discourages or prohibits people from claiming their rights through the courts;
• People with disabilities have their cases taken over by guardians ad litem or other substitute decision-makers, without the need for their consent; and
• People with disabilities are arbitrarily detained during criminal procedures, sometimes left to languish for decades in detention (See UGANDA: ACCESS TO COURTS FOR PEOPLE WITH MENTAL DISABILITIES).

"They don't consider me as a person"

Uganda is a country with a population of 35 million and only 30 psychiatrists. Lack of access to treatment, poverty, stigma, discrimination and human rights abuses are major barriers for the rehabilitation of people with mental disorders. Many workers in Uganda do not want to work in psychiatry due to the stigma associated with mental illness.

The organisation BasicNeeds has been working in Uganda for over 10 years to improve the quality of life of people living with mental illnesses. Their work involves supporting access to quality community mental health services and getting people back to productive work. They target 2 types of vulnerable groups.

The first are people who suffer from a mental disorder (schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, clinical depression, anxiety disorders etc) and the second, people who are likely to suffer from mental disorders as a result of the context they are living in (high risk categories include poor households, people directly affected by protracted conflict, included orphaned youth and former child soldiers, women and girls living in poverty, people with disabilities living in poverty). Significant effort has also gone into post-conflict programmes addressing psychosocial trauma and related deprivation and poverty in Northern Uganda, (see BasicNeeds: Where we work).

A summary of article 13 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of PWDs says: "People with disabilities have the right to effective access to justice on an equal basis with others, including through the provision of appropriate accommodations."

A World Health Organisation (2001) report says that one in four people are expected to get some kind of mental health disorder in their lifetime isn't it time we removed the stigma.