Mental Illness Brings Tragedy to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT

As an advocate for disabled, I see all too often, that mental illness goes untreated, or not treated completely or correctly. I have seen individuals tossed from the hospital since their insurance would only cover a certain amount of days. Who do we blame folks?What kind of country are we when we cannot appropriately care for the mentally ill. Must it always end in tragedy. This boy had such a rage in him that he shot his own mother. These angelic children have passed due to the hand of someone with mental illness. As we try to understand as parents, as civic minded individuals, as part of the human race and as me and my family mourn the loss of these children, as a country, we must take a careful look at mental illness to see what we are not doing.

Mental illness is a very big issue in this country. We have to tend to our mentally ill, The American with Disabilities Act (ADA), clearly protects the disabled from hurting themselves and others.  What will continue to happen if we dont tend to our mentally ill?  We can put men on the moon, but we cannot sustain mental illness, an illness that can be detected at very early onset, even as our children are toddlers. Yet, most programs, still do not appropriately deal with the social and emotional aspect of our children, teens, adults and seniors.

What is the cost of a life? These beautiful children that have died senselessly, the death of a deranged young man, clearly mentally ill. What type of treatment did this person recieve? Who were the doctors? Was there any treatment. He must have shown signs, how did this manifest into such rage. Why could we have not stopped this?I  ask myself as an advocate. W Better gun laws alone will not stop tragedies like this, but better healthcare will.We are looking at the wrong issue. We let murderers with a motive go free and the mentally ill go to prison without treatment. www.adaadvocates.com

We need to take a long, hard look at our healthcare system and the lack of provisions for mental illness.

We weep with all of you today and my family and I will be praying for you