What Britney Spears teaches us about guardianship and disability justice | Leanne Mull | TEDxNormal

Leanne's Talk "Guardianship and Disability Justice: It Doesn't End with Britney Spears" sheds light on advocacy not just for the disability community, but all of us. What is missing from the narrative are the stories of the people most often affected by guardianship, adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. While some people may benefit from the protection that a guardianship offers, the current system treats guardianship as a forgone conclusion for everyone with an intellectual or developmental disability.
Leanne has been supporting people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to achieve their dreams since 1999. In her previous career as a corporate trainer and business manager Leanne hired someone who used a job coach and that experience completely changed the course of her life. She spent the next 15 years at a traditional agency in a variety of roles ranging from job coach to QIDP, Day Services Manager to Director of Employment and Advocacy, and everything in between. Leanne believes that the key to meaningful lives for people who receive services is to encourage, engage and enlighten the staff who work for them. As co-director of Blue Tower Solutions, Inc. and Quality Enhancement Specialist for CQL, The Council on Quality and Leadership, Leanne fulfills that dream as an international speaker, writer and consultant improving organizations and systems supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Leanne’s current projects include the Central and Northwest Illinois Epilepsy Resource and Supports project, supporting organizations with implementations of best practices aligning with the federal HCBS Settings final rule and educating home visitors about supporting parents with disabilities. Most recently Leanne and a colleague with disabilities created a diversity and inclusion training for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities called “It Starts with Saying Hi!”.
Leanne’s advocacy work includes serving as Board President for The Arc of Illinois and supporting self advocates to educate those who work with them to support them in living their best lives. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

[@ale52081]

This is exactly what we need to change the system: Education and Awareness.

[@cjoybe4448]

Informed, thoughtful, precise, timely help for us all. Thank you for this vital contribution. Thank you for the information on options. Thank you for assisting people with disabilities to live their best, happiest, most creative lives.

[@Nat524Ricci]

My thoughts 💭 on Britney Spears’ 14 year long conservatorship and legal battles are exactly this - SO MUCH to be learned by Britney’s case. I don’t see guardianships and cships being placed on poor people, people without assets etc. do you? Is it really about protecting the vulnerable? I’m not so sure. So many families have been cleaned out by these court appointed thieves. So very sad. Much change is needed in this arena!!

[@JK_JK_JK_JK]

🙄

[@arthur9170]

​@@connorhawkins1801 14, actually. It started in February 2008 and ended in November 2021

[@Nat524Ricci]

@@connorhawkins1801 which is closer to 14y than 13yr

[@arthur9170]

@@connorhawkins1801 9 months is basically a year

[@jencontreras]

Poor people are placed on conservatorship all the time but they don’t make the news.

[@gregwalkington2530]

Loved this! Awareness is everything! THANKS!

[@pamelarich2498]

Leanne this was a wonderful presentation and VERY informative!!!

[@barbanderson428]

Thank you, Leanne. I do agree that Education and Awareness can make a difference.

[@funnytv-1631]

Some workdays may have felt like you worked nonstop but left little to show for it. Today will be different. The Nobel Prize winning author Herman Hesse wrote, “Within you there is a stillness and sanctuary to which you can retreat at any time and be yourself.” Today, you will access that inner sanctuary. Every hour, you will close your eyes for just a few moments and create a clear intention for the work you’d like to accomplish next. A deeper thread will be created which pulls your whole day into consciousness.

[@GeneralAccount-qk1ls]

Thank you Leanne for sharing this important information with the masses! We are so proud of you and the incredible advocacy work you are doing!!

[@michellemonbrod4574]

Fantastic insight and information! ❤

[@Cmallon81]

I think Massachusetts has struck the correct balance, though I am sure there is room for improvement. There is a strict distinction between guardianship of the person and conservatorship of finances under MA law (as well as Rogers orders when dealing with mental health issues). And, there is constant judicial review to determine if the scope of the guardianship/conservatorship to make certain that the guardianship/conservatorship does not impinge on areas of the ward's life that they are capable of making decisions about. It's too bad that California does not have something similar.

[@Onnoleigh]

Disability is the only minority that anyone can join at any minute. If that isn’t hard facts I don’t know what is. We live in such an ableist, Eugenics country. This is an important topic.

[@AmberAmber]

Youd think that would be obvious ‐ yet I've been told by my own family that im a "faker" & by far‐rw jerks that everything bad that happens was cos I sinned. I have PTSD & a genetic heart condition if that helps illuminate how silly those anti‐me attacks were/are. XO TY for being a good human.❤❤

[@mediumshipbypicasso]

Beautiful job !

[@pepper419]

I live in Australia and from what I'm hearing here, this sound almost like some form of imprisonment. Our people have carers who do a very different job, regardless of whether they're members of the family or not. They're paid by the government and because of this they cant just do as they please.

[@bukurie6861]

Thank you❤😍🌏

[@pepper419]

Everyone should have the right to vote and have the right to say their peice or not. They shouldn't be blackmailed one way or the other.

[@lgronewold1962]

I’m handicapped and I don’t have a guardian because my parents never treated me any differently from my siblings. I have viral encephalitis I got it from a mosquito when I was 5 years old. I was in a coma for along time had a fever of 107 I almost died from it. It let me with a speech impediment and my right arm & hand are paralyzed. They told my parents I would be a vegetable when I came out of the coma I prove them wrong most people with my disease can’t walk I can I drive a car I live alone with my 2 dachshunds. I will never have a guardian in my life. I pay my own bills. Does anyone know how to get free pet care for my dachshunds is there some kind of program? I live in Iowa.

[@emredadasoglu1449]

I thought Britney Spears…

[@clairebamon1685]

Me too

[@UTOOBISMYTOOB]

The speaker refers to her

[@00aga00]

I clicked so fast

[@balirajverma1125]

From which country you

[@leannemull3945]

It is about what happened to Britney Spears and talks about other people under guardianship.

[@gelecegedair1077]

Maalesef ingilizce bilmiyorum ve anlamıyorum ama çok sevdiğim bı Kanal Türkçe içeriklerini kaçırmam

[@themokhi]

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@CandyCoated96]

While this may be true. Some families have very good intentions toward their loved one. Without guardianship a mentally incompetent person is left even more handicapp as the law forces them to take actions they are not mentally capable to take. They can be robbed of oppurtunitues and taken advantage of by outsiders because they have no legal protection. Each case is different and requires introspect and great research and should be met with proof and professional backing. Sometimes guardianship is the only form of protection a parent can give their disabled child. If the child is unable to prosper and be a independent persons they should be a protected person, regardless of age. Courts examining each facet of the protected persons life ofcourse #1. How is this person functioning independently as a unprotected person? #2. Does history and mental examination show this person is unable to make sound decisions or even do they have the capability to manage life alone, without assistance and someone over them? #3. Is this person mental capacity at the level of someone their age ? Ex: Are they able to get employment, shelter, food, and everyday necessities as an independent person? # 4. What are the odds of this person having a healthy life without a guardianship? Because if not, they become lost in a society that preys on those vulnerable and takes advantage of those left without the care of those closest to them.

[@leannemull3945]

Hi, There are so many wonderful guardians and many people who benefit from that level of protection. There are many other people who are supported using less restrictive measures. You are right, it is absolutely a case by case basis. Thank you!

[@JK_JK_JK_JK]

The last time I was this early Britney Spears was relevant! 🙄

[@NoxBVansyn]

Did you even watch the video and listen to what was said? I'm guessing not, with how rude you're being.

[@nicknickleton-kumordjie4]

How do education and awareness change guardianship laws in Saudi Arabia, where natural ability may not be recognised with great talent reposed in women that can never be identified. Great scientists, engineers and innovators are wasted because they happen to be women? 10:52

[@JK_JK_JK_JK]

Ted Talk appealing to a much younger demographic! 🙄

[@masoomasikander5010]

First

[@pepper419]

Wait till you're forced to vote regardless of you wheather you want to or not. If you have to drive a hundred miles just to put a piece of paper in a box even if you're a hundred years old and living alone without a car. You still have to vote in Australia. You can't do it on the internet, that's no allowed.

[@leannemull3945]

Wow I did not know this!