Imagine one day you are going about your life, choosing what you wear for the day, what you eat for meals, how you spend your time, who you spend time with, what you watch on TV, and even where you live. Now imagine the next day all those decisions are taken from you and you’re told that someone else gets to decide those things. Imagine what that utter loss of control over anything in your life must feel like. That is what guardianship can do.
Britney Spears’ June 23rd court testimony, which disclosed the shocking and disturbing details of her conservatorship, has sparked a mass conversation among the general public–who had been mostly unaware of not only the abusive nature of these arrangements, but how commonly they are applied to people across a broad range of diagnoses for physical and mental disabilities.
Disability rights advocates have long advocated for alternatives to legal guardianships and conservatorships that have allowed for the systemic abuse and pervasive control over the lives of people with disabilities. While the details of these systems vary from state to state, they all remove the ability for people placed under guardianship to make decisions in their own lives. This includes not only decisions about their finances, but over their own bodies in areas ranging from choices of medical treatment to the decision to have children. This power even extends to control a person’s right to receive phone calls and mail, vote, or get married.
In Louisiana, guardianships are called interdictions, which is a similar concept. The prevalence of unnecessarily restrictive interdictions in Louisiana is rampant with hundreds of interdictions being filed around the state annually. Many citizens facing interdictions in Louisiana do not have supports or anyone that allows them to have a voice. Although Ms. Spears’ case has global attention, her struggles continue to be unjust, and authorities do not consider her wants and needs. Imagine how impossible it must feel for someone who does not have access to publicly speak out about their injustices. Imagine how impossible it must feel to have another person take over your life while you are powerless to stop it.
Compounding the issue is that people placed under guardianship seldom have their legal rights fully explained to them, and families are often unaware of alternatives. The alternative that disability advocates most strongly advocate for is Supported Decision-Making (SDM). This method allows for the person to keep their legal rights that support their autonomy, and to be helped in their decision making by people of their own choosing. Studies into Supported Decision-Making have shown immense benefits to the individual with a disability including increased confidence, increased likelihood to expand social interests, increased likelihood to obtain a job, and a greater sense of self. Taking the step to enter into an SDM agreement is easy and has the potential to have an enormous benefit for all aspects of the individual’s life. Unfortunately, too many people opt not to even try SDM and instead choose the most restrictive option available — guardianship, or in Louisiana, interdiction.
While this widely read testimony coming from a globally recognized entertainer has shed light on this issue, it also highlights the situations of so many more people placed under guardianship who lack access to a small fraction of the same resources, information, and visibility in their communities. As Ms. Spears continues to advocate for her autonomy, we stand with her and all of the people who are suffering under these abusive arrangements, and hope that through the push for Supported Decision Making, the autonomy of so many people with disabilities of all types can be restored.
For more information about Supported Decision Making, contact us or visit this page on our website: https://disabilityrightsla.org/resources/alternatives-to-legal-status-changes-supported-decision-making-sdm/
