Reducing the high rate of suicides in Alaska would be as simple as increasing disabled psychiatric patient’s rights and the rights of individuals in crisis.
An appropriate question should be: why is there no political will to improve rights for the disabled? Going on 60 years, the psychiatric patient grievance procedures are still being written by psychiatric hospital managers and more important, the appeal process, adding to the helplessness and hopelessness of disabled patients.
Alaska has double the rate of suicide than most other states. Alaska also has half as many effective laws to protect the disabled. It is troubling when obviously educated, intelligent people discuss how to reduce the number of suicides without discussing how to improve disabled patient rights.
Even good men and women make mistakes. It was not until 1984 that the disabled were given a right by Alaska law to be free from corporal punishment(AS 47.30.840). The mistake was waiting all those years.
Today there are about six laws that need to be revised or written to protect the disabled. The mistake: as a state we have not even started.
Faith Myers and Dorrance Collins,
Anchorage