Celebrating independence, every day

By Melanie Dallas, LPC

Fourth of July is a good holiday. It happens during summer, when the weather is nice (extreme heat notwithstanding) and the days are long – and, you don’t have to buy gifts. Some years, July 4^th also means a three-day weekend, like this year, and even if not, it always brings a four-day work week. And because the holiday in the middle of summer, Fourth of July often includes going to the pool, boating, cookouts and fireworks – really, what’s not to like?

Fourth of July, of course, is also known as Independence Day, and marks the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, when the fledgling United States declared our independence from England. And this year is particularly special, as America celebrates its 250^th birthday. Independence is not only important to our national history, but is also a bedrock principle of our civic life – liberty, self-determination and personal autonomy.

Independence is also an essential principle of behavioral health. Today, living independently in the community is regarded as a right for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Independence is also a vital part of living in recovery for individuals with complex mental health conditions and substance use disorders.

In the not-too-distant past, really only a generation ago, individuals with disabilities or severe mental health challenges routinely spent most, if not all of their lives in institutional settings. Historically, that probably seemed logical – if someone required frequent psychiatric or personal care, then the best place for them was somewhere they could receive that, and that was not in the community. And for most of our history, there was also no provision in the law that provided these individuals the right to live in the community.

That all changed in 1999, when the US Supreme Court – in what is now regarded as one of its most significant civil rights decisions (Olmstead vs. LC, brought by Georgian Losi Curtis) – ruled that individuals could not be kept in institutions simply because they have a disability or mental illness. And further, states must provide the services and supports necessary to ensure such individuals are able to live in their community.

More than that, the Olmstead decision decreed that a fundamental principle of American life – self-determination – also applied to individuals with disabilities and complex mental health conditions. In other words, these individuals have the right to live their lives with independence.

From a practical perspective, we know that not everyone with these challenges is able to live completely independently in their community; many need support and assistance, sometimes daily. As a Community Service Board, Highland Rivers provides community-based services to hundreds of individuals with disabilities and complex mental health conditions in our service area, with programs that include life skills training and education, vocational support, supportive housing, group homes, peer support, case management, crisis intervention, and much more.

All of these services promote personal autonomy and self-reliance, independence to the extent possible according to each individual’s strengths, needs and preferences. And we might all agree that living in the community, even with a great deal of support, is preferable to living in an institution you cannot leave, unable to choose what food you eat and when, what you watch on TV, and where you can be over the course of a day, every day.

So as we celebrate America’s 250^th birthday and our independence as a nation, let’s also celebrate the independence granted to each of us in the US Constitution. And let’s celebrate especially the great progress we’ve made toward ensuring and supporting independence for a segment of our population that is often marginalized and misunderstood. Individuals with disabilities and complex mental health challenges, like all of us, should enjoy independence every day of the year.

Melanie Dallas is a licensed professional counselor and CEO of Highland Rivers Behavioral Health, which provides treatment and recovery services for individuals with mental illness, substance use disorders, and intellectual and developmental disabilities in a 13-county region of northwest Georgia that includes Bartow, Cherokee, Cobb, Floyd, Fannin, Gilmer, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Pickens, Polk and Whitfield counties.