After #FreeBritney, should all conservatorships be abolished?

Brut America

“If this happened to Britney, it can happen to anybody.”  Britney Spears is free, but her story has people questioning whether other conservatorships should be abolished ...

Transcript

00:00So I'm just grateful, honestly, for each day and being able to have the keys to my car

00:06and being able to be independent and feel like a woman.

00:08If this happened to Brittany, it can happen to anybody.

00:21Not only did she shine a light on this conservatorship, but she shines a light on conservatorships

00:27from California to New York.

00:29I'm here to be an advocate for people with real disabilities and real illnesses.

00:35I'm a very strong woman, so I can only imagine what the system has done to those people.

00:41Hey, hey, ho, ho, the conservatorship has got to go.

00:45Hey, hey, ho, ho.

00:51It's giving a huge amount of power to one person, and that power is controlled by the court.

00:59But the conservator is the person who exercises that power on a day-to-day basis, and that's

01:06built in.

01:13It's fundamentally a disability issue, and I think our society's stigma and ableism is

01:22a big part of why they're so overused.

01:25There's something called the school-to-guardianship pipeline, or school-to-conservatorship pipeline,

01:30where people with intellectual and developmental disabilities end up in conservatorship as

01:35soon as they turn 18, often because schools tell families that that's what they should

01:42do or that's what they must do.

01:44There are people who could use many, many alternatives that are less restrictive, that

01:50actually protect people's safety better, that families don't know about.

01:54Some people also end up in conservatorship during or after a psychiatric crisis of some

02:00sort.

02:02And then people end up in conservatorships later in life, as they age into disabilities

02:09like dementia or Alzheimer's.

02:19I want to be able to get married and have a baby.

02:22I was told right now in the conservatorship I'm not able to get married or have a baby.

02:27I have an ID inside of myself right now, so I don't get pregnant.

02:33I wanted to take the ID out so I could start trying to have another baby, but this so-called

02:39team won't let me go to the doctor to take it out because they don't want me to have

02:44children, any more children.

02:45In our view, the problems of conservatorship are not just outright abuse and neglect.

02:53That's of course a harm and it's real and it happens a lot, though we don't know how

02:57often because there isn't data about these issues.

03:00But the other piece of it is that even where everyone is acting in complete good faith,

03:07it's a harm to take away someone's autonomy.

03:10It's particularly sad and painful in the context of young people with intellectual

03:16and developmental disabilities who are told right when they're 18 that, you know, well

03:21you don't know how to balance a checkbook yet, you never will be able to, so we're going

03:25to take away all your rights.

03:26Some of you may know that as a result of Brittany, California has passed legislation to try to

03:41ensure that conservatorships like this that were corrupted by her father do not happen

03:46again.

03:47In recent months, one conservatorship has captivated the world, revealing the deeply

03:54restrictive nature of these arrangements and just how easily they can be abused and

04:00how difficult it can be to escape.

04:05Of course, I'm talking about Brittany Spears.

04:09Part of what needs to be done is really changing laws to be really explicit that conservatorship

04:16and guardianship is the last resort and we also need more, much easier access to getting

04:24out of conservatorships, to access the court to get out of a conservatorship, to have a

04:28lawyer who could help you, you know, in the termination process.

04:40There's a really wide range of how people can get support and make their own decisions

04:47and this is the same as people without disabilities do as well.

04:51If I decided what I was going to eat for breakfast today on my own, didn't talk to

04:56anyone about it, did that.

04:57If I'm going to buy a car, I don't know anything about cars, I'm not going to do that without

05:02support.

05:03I'm going to talk to people who I trust.

05:04We need to expand recognition of that for people with disabilities that there are many

05:13voluntary ways that people can direct their own lives and supported decision making is

05:18an option there of helping people, allowing people with disabilities to choose people

05:24they trust to help them make their own choices.

05:27There are other things like powers of attorney that people can use or advanced medical directives

05:32or simple documents to share medical information or share educational information.

05:39Hopefully my story will make an impact and make some changes.

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