>>/15943/

HARPA DIG CONT'D'

Response to the proposed SAFE HOME project of HARPA

A number of other people noticed this nefarious initiative and wrote about it, most prominent of which was the NY Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, Inc.
 September 18, 2019

NYAPRS Note: A large number of advocates from across the spectrum of the disability advocacy community have joined forces to strongly oppose false connections between gun and other forms of violence and people with mental health related conditions, as well as recent proposals favoring re-institutionalization and electronic monitoring. See below for a list of suggested social media messaging and references developed by members of the group.  
> They found this initiative THAT alarming...
https://www.nyaprs.org/e-news-bulletins/2019/9/18/mhw-disability-community-decries-proposal-to-monitor-people-with-mi-to-predict-violence
https://archive.is/m0Nyl
Proposal to Monitor People With MI to Predict Violence Sparks Field Outcry
By Valerie Canady Mental Health Weekly  September 16, 2019

The director of policy and legal advocacy for the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law said she predicts a public outcry if this proposal actually moves forward. “It is extremely troubling that the White House is apparently exploring an effort to monitor people with psychiatric disabilities to try to identify when they might become violent,” Jennifer Mathis told MHW. “The entire premise of this effort is that having a mental health diagnosis makes a person likely to become violent, but the evidence is clear that that's false.”

Mathis added, “It is also concerning how the information gleaned from monitoring people would or could be used. This proposal has alarming Orwellian overtones. All that it would do is promote fear, prejudice and stigma and make it harder for people with psychiatric disabilities to participate as full members of our society.”

The American Psychological Association (APA) released a statement condemning the use of technology to predict who will become violent. “The idea for an agency focused on developing technology to improve health care and act as an innovation engine is a good one,” said Arthur C. Evans Jr., Ph.D., CEO of the APA. “But it is illogical to task HARPA with solving a real problem of violence by connecting it to a fallacious idea — that people with mental illness are the cause of mass shootings. Research consistently shows a weak link between mental illness and mass shootings.”

Evans pointed to a need to focus on funding more research on the causes of gun violence so that effective preventive strategies can be developed.

Additional information and conclusion in next post