“Spears isn’t an anomaly, and in actuality, conservatorship has few safeguards and checks. Legal personhood is regularly stripped from disabled people through conservatorship, and nobody blinks an eye.”
“Conservators have an enormous amount of power over their conservatees, and there are few, if any, checks on that power. Despite that kind of absolute control, conservatorships are often seen as fundamentally benign. The question of basic self-determination is treated as an afterthought.”
“I might eat more M&M’s than my doctor would think is in
my best interest for my cholesterol, for example, but nobody’s going to court to ban my access to M&M’s because I’m not perceived as having a disability,” she explained. “There’s this double standard where, if you’re perceived as having a disability, your preferences are subsumed by what’s in your, quote, best interest. That’s just not how humans function.”
Recently there has been much discussion of Britney Spears’ conservatorship. Many have stated that guardianships and conservatorships are not intended for people as young and “normal” as Britney. These discussions neglect the real harm that guardianships can inflict on real disabled people.
