Mental Health and Stigma - How Best to Protect Workers from Discrimination
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MENTAL HEALTH AND STIGMA - HOW BEST TO
PROTECT WORKERS FROM DISCRIMINATION*
Kay Wheat*
INTRODUCTION
The focus of this article is mental health and workplace disability
discrimination in the UK. The article will look at a number of ways that
disability discrimination in the UK could be developed to the advantage of
people with mental health problems, through an examination of the legislation
and through case analysis.
The issues that are raised by disability discrimination on the ground of
mental health are pertinent to all legal systems that have enacted laws to try
and protect people suffering from disability discrimination. Some comparisons
are made with Canadian law, as in Canada there appears to be a more open-
textured human rights approach to disability discrimination. In addition to
making suggestions for further developments in UK law, this article suggests
that the Canadian approach is the better way, as it concerns itself more with
a human rights perspective and a social model of disability rather than a
medical model.
PART I - MENTAL HEALTH CONTEXT
1. The importance of employment
The focus of this article is on mental health and employment. This is
not to deny that people who have, or have had, mental health problems may
not face difficulties and discrimination in other areas,' but because of the
essentially private, and case specific, nature of the employment relationship,
there are special problems that can arise. Furthermore, employment, skill and
work have a significance in terms of personal satisfaction, self-esteem and
*Kay Wheat, Law School, Nottingham Trent University, UK, Elaine Brohan, Graham
Thornicroft, Claire Henderson, all of the Health Service and Population Research Department,
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK.
1 For example, provision of social housing: Lewisham London Borough Council v Malcolm,
[2008] UKHL 43, [2008] 1 AC 1399.
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Mental Health and Stigma - How Best to Protect Workers from Discrimination
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