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34 Windsor Rev. Legal & Soc. Issues 1 (2013)
Mental Health and Stigma - How Best to Protect Workers from Discrimination

handle is hein.journals/wrlsi34 and id is 7 raw text is: Mental Health and Stigma 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. Vol. 34