The council represents the disabled in mental health facilities, school systems, community colleges and universities. Perry estimates needing up to five times more staff to meet demands. The council has 31 employees. South Carolina's protection and advocacy agency has 34. Board member Jean Allen, whose son died in 1998 at Charter Hospital in Greensboro, praises the council.
Critics charge that the council's priorities are skewed.
Though the group has lobbied for individual clients, particularly special education children, the council has neglected to take the lead in pushing for statewide change, they say. Advocates from other states have criticized North Carolina's council for not pursuing broader changes through litigation. In Mississippi, the protection and advocacy agency successfully settled a case against the state in which it alleged the state was failing to provide proper medication to mental health patients because of the expense. In Texas, lawyers have filed a number of lawsuits, fighting for such things as access to newer medications and better mental health care in prisons. There's a better way.