Commotion: Britney Spears and Disability Rights

Spears’ official diagnosis has never been made public, and we don’t know if she identifies herself as a person with disabilities. She has, however, addressed her medical condition in numerous interviews. “I turn into this different person, seriously. Bipolar disorder,” she said in 2013. In 2007 she had a very public “breakdown,” as the media described it, and sustained treatment in more than one rehabilitation facility. She was also placed on a psychiatric hold in 2008 prior to the conservatorship.

Mental health professionals who have not treated Spears have speculated that she may suffer now or in the past from postpartum depression, PTSD, anxiety, or trauma. She also seems aware of her own needs for treatment. Even as she testified towards the abuse from mental health professionals, she spoke fondly of support groups and added, “I do need a little therapy.”

The Americans with Disabilities Act recognizes several mental health conditions as disabilities. These include PTSD, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, among others. Regardless of Spears’ diagnosis, however, her struggle under her conservatorship is similar to that of millions of people with intellectual and psychological disabilities. They’re part of a long history of people deemed disabled who have had to fight for their personhood, particularly impacting women and communities of color.  

Legal and mental health experts have speculated that Spears’ conservatorship may be a violation of her human rights, particularly concerning reproductive rights. During her testimony she alleged that she’d been prevented from removing her IUD, and was forced to take medications against her will.  A staff attorney with the ACLU’s Disability Rights Project told Time magazine that conservatorships are often carelessly regulated. “It’s supposed to be a last resort because it’s so invasive,” she said. “It’s supposed to be only if there’s nothing else that works, but in reality, it’s very often the first resort.”

Advocates have proposed the alternative of “supportive decision making” instead. There is still more work to be done to change cultural expectations of what a disability is and looks like, but Spears’s notoriety has brought the movement into the public sphere. “Every time we shine a little bit of light, things get easier. Britney’s not just shining a light, she’s a huge spotlight,” said Jonathan Martinis, an attorney and leading expert on alternatives to conservatorships. “So maybe the conversation changes a little bit and the culture changes a little bit. And we say before guardianship, what else can we do?”