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From: Your Name <you@example.com>
To: info@dhara.dhamma.org info@freedom-center.org
Subject: End Discrimination At Vipassana Meditation Center
Your Personal Statement
For years the Vipassana Meditation Center of Shelburne Falls Massachusetts (led by S. N. Goenka) has offered very popular meditation retreats on a donation basis, and we are appreciative of the Center's valuable services to the community. However, until recently the Vipassana Center (and the international network of Centers of which it is a part) had an explicit policy to exclude anyone labeled with a severe mental illness, a policy that was posted on its website. While the notice and policy were changed after complaints, the Vipassana Center still asks for and collects detailed information about psychiatric diagnosis and history as part of its application criteria.
Freedom Center, a Pioneer Valley advocacy and support group for people labeled with mental illness, has been contacted by several people who were hurt and shamed by this policy. If the Vipassana Center were a private employer or public facility, its policy would be illegal under the Americans With Disability Act (ADA). The ADA allows asking neutral questions about a person's capacity to meet a required task, but not questions about a disability itself, medications, hospital history, or making assumptions about a person's capacity on the basis of a disability. (The ADA exempts religious organizations and churches from its provisions.)
With its current policy the Vipassana Center is perpetuating stereotypes about people labeled with mental illnesses, such as the belief that just because we have a diagnosis we all must have impaired judgement or that none of us can meditate safely. Many people labeled with severe psychiatric disabilities such as schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, and bipolar disorder have not only completed challenging meditation retreats, but discovered that their so-called "illness" is actually intimately connected to spirituality and that meditation is a valuable recovery tool. Faced with an arbitrary, intrusive, and discriminatory policy, many retreat applicants simply hide their psychiatric history on the application to avoid stigmatization by the Center, which puts applicants in a degrading and unfair position.
We certainly understand the importance of adequately screening applicants for the challenges of a disciplined meditation retreat. We believe however that the Vipassana Center can find neutral, non-discriminatory questions to ask applicants, questions that focus on what a person can do without making assumptions about who they are. Many other Buddhist meditation retreats around the US comply with the ADA and do not ask intrusive and discriminatory questions. Why can't the Vipassana Center follow their example?
We hope the Vipassana Meditation Center will educate itself about the Americans With Disabilities Act, the mental health recovery movement, and the painful history of misunderstanding and mistreatment of people labeled with mental illnesses. Consistent with its goals of compassion and loving kindness, the Vipassana Meditation Center at Shelburne Falls and Centers internationally should act promptly to change this hurtful policy.
Please politely contact the Center with your concerns at info@dhara.dhamma.org, call (413) 625-2160, fax (413) 625-2170, or send a letter to Vipassana Meditation Center, Dhamma Dhara 386 Colrain-Shelburne Road Shelburne, MA 01370. Also please send a copy of your letter to info@freedom-center.org.
Your Name
Your Organization
123 Your St.
Yousville, YO 12345
Phone: (123)456-7890
Fax: (123)456-7890x123
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To: info@dhara.dhamma.org info@freedom-center.org
Subject: End Discrimination At Vipassana Meditation Center
Your Personal Statement
For years the Vipassana Meditation Center of Shelburne Falls Massachusetts (led by S. N. Goenka) has offered very popular meditation retreats on a donation basis, and we are appreciative of the Center's valuable services to the community. However, until recently the Vipassana Center (and the international network of Centers of which it is a part) had an explicit policy to exclude anyone labeled with a severe mental illness, a policy that was posted on its website. While the notice and policy were changed after complaints, the Vipassana Center still asks for and collects detailed information about psychiatric diagnosis and history as part of its application criteria.
Freedom Center, a Pioneer Valley advocacy and support group for people labeled with mental illness, has been contacted by several people who were hurt and shamed by this policy. If the Vipassana Center were a private employer or public facility, its policy would be illegal under the Americans With Disability Act (ADA). The ADA allows asking neutral questions about a person's capacity to meet a required task, but not questions about a disability itself, medications, hospital history, or making assumptions about a person's capacity on the basis of a disability. (The ADA exempts religious organizations and churches from its provisions.)
With its current policy the Vipassana Center is perpetuating stereotypes about people labeled with mental illnesses, such as the belief that just because we have a diagnosis we all must have impaired judgement or that none of us can meditate safely. Many people labeled with severe psychiatric disabilities such as schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, and bipolar disorder have not only completed challenging meditation retreats, but discovered that their so-called "illness" is actually intimately connected to spirituality and that meditation is a valuable recovery tool. Faced with an arbitrary, intrusive, and discriminatory policy, many retreat applicants simply hide their psychiatric history on the application to avoid stigmatization by the Center, which puts applicants in a degrading and unfair position.
We certainly understand the importance of adequately screening applicants for the challenges of a disciplined meditation retreat. We believe however that the Vipassana Center can find neutral, non-discriminatory questions to ask applicants, questions that focus on what a person can do without making assumptions about who they are. Many other Buddhist meditation retreats around the US comply with the ADA and do not ask intrusive and discriminatory questions. Why can't the Vipassana Center follow their example?
We hope the Vipassana Meditation Center will educate itself about the Americans With Disabilities Act, the mental health recovery movement, and the painful history of misunderstanding and mistreatment of people labeled with mental illnesses. Consistent with its goals of compassion and loving kindness, the Vipassana Meditation Center at Shelburne Falls and Centers internationally should act promptly to change this hurtful policy.
Please politely contact the Center with your concerns at info@dhara.dhamma.org, call (413) 625-2160, fax (413) 625-2170, or send a letter to Vipassana Meditation Center, Dhamma Dhara 386 Colrain-Shelburne Road Shelburne, MA 01370. Also please send a copy of your letter to info@freedom-center.org.
Your Name
Your Organization
123 Your St.
Yousville, YO 12345
Phone: (123)456-7890
Fax: (123)456-7890x123
--
Delivered by CitizenSpeak!
Report abuse to abuse@citizenspeak.org [117]
