More Forced Electroshock? Let’s Stop Bill in State of Washington, Now!
UPDATE: The public hearing today, 2/15/19, was canceled, apparently because of opposition. Please keep up your speaking out against this bill! If we keep preventing a hearing for a week, the bill is dead this session! And we win! Original alert: Incredibly, there is a proposed bill in the State of Washington right now that would make it easier to give involuntary electroshock (also known as electroconvulsive therapy or ECT), over and against the expressed wishes of the subject. I just phoned the committee that is looking at this bill,...
read moreEco-Crisis Means Disability Movement Must Help Lead Global Revolution, Now!
This year, 2019, is my 43rd year working for human rights in disability. Based on sheer numbers, we are one of the largest social change movements in Earth’s history. Let us act like it now, and help lead a world-wide revolution. Sound crazy? Well, the odds are indeed against us. However, this is not a question of what can be done, this is a question of what must be done. Here are three reasons I feel we must pour our souls into this endeavor, now: 1. Creative Disorder We in the disability movement are extremely diverse. Some of us...
read moreHomecare Worker in Eugene? Take Our Survey!
UPDATE 17 December 2018: We have just filled all shifts. Home care workers are encouraged to fill out our online, brief, private survey, link below. We will keep answers on file for future openings and sub positions, plus you can indicate that we can share your interest with other disabled consumers. Below is our original entry: Living with severe disabilities, I have a great team of six homecare workers through Senior & Disability Services who help me throughout the week in my daily life needs. Due to a worker leaving, we are looking for...
read moreHow Goes the “Revolution” in Mental Health?
Maybe you missed it, like I did. But this weekend I finally read the little report, about 20 pages, by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dainius Pūras. Wow! It is amazing! The official UN news release actually calls for a “revolution” in mental health. The actual report is here, 21 pages that reads like we psychiatric survivors wrote it, see attachment: un-report-on-mental-health-2017 For example, he says “Mental health policies should address the ‘power imbalance’ rather than...
read moreDouble Deck Memorization by David W. Oaks, Perfectly, Today!
5 September 2018 by David W. Oaks Memorizing Two Decks of Cards: Why? This morning, one of my main home care workers, Ian, shuffled two decks of cards together a few times and then cut them. Each deck has the usual 52 cards, plus Jokers in both black-and-white and color. So the total number of cards is 108. Ian laid out 18 at a time, and I memorized their order. He did this six times. Without looking at the cards again, I then recited all 108 cards, the entire two decks, in the same order, from memory. Ian carefully validated this and my...
read moreThere is Now Mainly Only ONE (1) Mental Health Issue: Climate
For more than four decades I have worked as an independent activist for human rights in the mental health system. This independence is rather rare. Many of my good friends and colleagues in the mental health advocacy field work for nonprofits that are funded mainly by the government, local state or federal. My friends often do great work, but several of us have warned about dependence on money from the very system we are trying to change. As many readers know, I worked as executive director of MindFreedom International for more than 25 years,...
read moreFour Great News Items About MindFreedom & Winning Human Rights in Mental Health
I do some consulting for the independent nonprofit, MindFreedom International, which is one of the main coalitions focusing on human rights in mental health. Here are four positive news items about MFI: 1. MindFreedom will be doing another free webinar later this Summer 2018, on choice in mental health. On August 19, 2018, MindFreedom will be holding a new free online webinar about empowering options for people needing mental and emotional support. The title of the webinar: “Voices for Choices: Organizing for Alternatives to Forced...
read moreWe’re finishing “Creative Maladjustment Week” 2018, Get Ready for 2019!
We just finished another Creative Maladjustment Week. In case you are new to that phrase, for more than a decade, Martin Luther King talked about “creative maladjustment.” MLK would say that he was proud to be creatively maladjusted to problems like militarism, poverty and racism. A number of years ago, MindFreedom International began a Creative Maladjustment Week to celebrate this idea, and to challenge what is falsely called “normal.” Of course, there are 8 days in Creative Maladjustment Week. I suggest we add a...
read moreAre You a Psychiatric Survivor in the USA? What Helps Us Speak Up?
Those of us who have experienced human rights challenges because of the mental health system, have often been marginalized and silenced. Our viewpoints are diverse, and need to be part of the national conversation. Here in the USA, the debate over gun safety often involves mental health, yet we in the public seldom hear from psychiatric survivors. Personally, what is very horrifying to me is the USA federal government currently has programs in 17 cities to support court-ordered involuntary outpatient mental health. That is right, USA taxpayers...
read moreHelp Wanted in Eugene: Join Our Amazing Homecare Team!
Paid Home Care Worker Wanted Spring 2018: Part-Time, Eugene, OR Have a Current S&DS Home Care Provider Number? Here in southwest Eugene, on a quarter-acre of wild garden, in our little creative home, I have a great team of five fantastic folks. They provide about 85 hours per week to help me get out of bed, do hygiene, eat, get back to bed and various activities of independent living that allow me to live in our community with my amazing wife, Debra. My workers all say they love this job. But one is leaving for a full time position:...
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