Rosalyn Carter is Long Overdue for Respect

To the Editor:
Children have not a moment to waste if they are diagnosed with mental illness. Rosalynn Carter, the First Lady, wrote with two coauthors, an essential book called “Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis.” After 40 years in mental illness administration, starting with her work as First Lady in the Georgia governor’s mansion, 1971, Rosalynn offers insight and understanding with reason to hope. She writes about “doing time for a mental illness,” solitary confinement, community centers for mental health conversations. She discusses post traumatic stress disorder, stress and violence in refuge camps, and obesity. Mrs. Carter established with her husband, the President’s Commission on Mental Health and served as honorary chairperson.
Rosalynn Carter got her degree from Georgia State College for Women. She has four children. In the early years of Jimmy Carter’s and her peanut farm business, she often was concerned for her safety. This was because of Jimmy’s and her stand on integration in Georgia. Mrs. Carter writes in the book, “First Lady from Plains,” that frequently she was afraid their peanut business would be boycotted or burned to the ground.
Rosalynn traveled the world as a representative of her husband’s policies on human rights. I have to say that while I was a college student at Pennsylvania State University, I indirectly benefitted by the human rights in the Carter administration. Mrs. Carter worked for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, for the rights of the elderly, and for the Special Olympics for mentally retarded.
A recent letter from the Carter Center, Atlanta, Ga., reports that Rosalynn continues her leadership with their Mental Health program to reduce stigma and discrimination for those people experiencing mental illness
For Women’s History Month this March, at 87 years of age, Rosalynn Carter is long overdue for respect with her lifetime of service.