My Great Friend, Rev. Phil Schulman, Still Delivers Message Filled with Wisdom, Humor & Love
One of my very best friends for many years is the creative, loving, wise, funny Phil Schulman. Phil is a minister who has led several Unitarian Universalist congregations. Phil has been such a prominent, positive leader in so many movement gatherings of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors that I affectionately call him “The Mad Movement Minister”! In November 2017, while biking from home to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting (Phil has been clean and sober for many decades) a truck hit him. Phil suffered a major traumatic...
read moreMeet & Greet John Bola, PhD, Psych Survivor, Researcher: MF Oregon
Those of you in the Eugene, Oregon area can be in for a treat: John Bola, PhD, will be at our free monthly meeting of MindFreedom Oregon, our local affiliate. Please spread the word to folks you know in Eugene! This will be an informal chance to chat with one of the main champions of researching change in the mental health system. As a young person, John experienced human rights violations in the mental health system, including electroshock. He lived here in Eugene for a few years, but mainly has been working and studying in California and...
read moreMore Forced Electroshock? Let’s Stop Bill in State of Washington, Now!
UPDATE 2/27/19: Looks like we won! The latest word from a staffperson at the State of Washington legislature, is that the proposed bill for easier involuntary electroshock is dead this session, and that no other bills have been amended to include this idea. Some activists were concerned that the concept would simply be added as an amendment to another bill. However, loosening restrictions on forced shock are dead this session. This is the “understanding” of Kevin Black, staff coordinator/counsel for Senate Behavioral Health...
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! But Why? Go Extinction Rebellion!
Update 12 April 2019: Here is a brief video by my good buddy David Zupan from Summer of 2018 showing me, David Oaks, perfectly memorizing the order of two shuffled decks of cards (108 cards counting the jokers). As of April 2019, I have done this nine times perfectly, faster and faster. But why? For one thing, even those of us with extreme disabilities have something to offer. I love this new group Extinction Rebellion, which uses peaceful direct action to resist the climate crisis. They call for global rebellion this Monday, 15 April 2019....
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...
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