|
|
MINDFREEDOM INTERNATIONAL NEWS
RELEASE - Oct. 2007
http://www.mindfreedom.org
- You Can Screen the American Psychiatric Association
Headquarters for
- "Normality"!
- This Thursday, 11 October 2007, Noon, Activists Hold Skit
in
- Front of APA.
- ARLINGTON, VIGINIA: You can help screen the American
Psychiatric
- Association headquarters in Washington, D.C. for
"normality," along with
- activists arriving from throughout the USA.
- The date of 11 October 2007 is widely considered "Mental
Health
- Screening Day."
- The mental health industry encourages everyone to take a
simple quiz that
- day. That sounds good to most people. But without
information, advocacy,
- and alternatives, activists say mental health screening
can lead to human
- rights violations such as over-drugging, especially of
youth.
- At noon, on Thursday, 11 October 2007, MindFreedom
International
- invites you to be in Arlington, Virginia, in a nonviolent
"guerilla
- theater" led by MindFreedom board member and psychologist
Al Galves of
- Arizona, physician Larry Plumlee, MindFreedom director
David Oaks from
- Oregon, MindFreedom Virginia's Frank Blankenship, and
others.
- YOU can also be a lead in this nonviolent skit about
"screening for
- normality" directly in front of the American Psychiatric
Association
- headquarters, 1000 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia!
- Said David Oaks, director of MindFreedom International,
"So often we have
- to be serious, such as when we fight atrocities like
forced electroshock.
- Well, on 11 October 2007 you are invited to show your MAD
PRIDE humor and
- have some fun."
- Activists will ask, "Has Earth finally been healed of
'normality'?
- Can the long weird battle to cure our planet of
'normality' finally be
- declared over? If one 'normal' person still exists on
Earth, wouldn't
- that person be in the American Psychiatric Association
headquarters,
- definers of normality internationally?"
- SCREEN AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION FOR NORMALITY
- WHEN:
- Noon, This Thurs., 11 October 2007
- WHERE:
- American Psychiatric Association headquarters, 1000 Wilson
Boulevard,
- Arlington, Virginia
- A google map to find the American Psychiatric Association
- headquarters is here:
-
http://tinyurl.com/yufxyz
- WHAT:
- MindFreedom is providing free white biohazard aprons...
rubber
- chickens (used as screening wands, as in an airport)...
squeaky red
- rubber noses (normality detectors)... and a digital video
camera to put
- the whole experience onto YouTube. All who are screened
get a card that
- says, "Officially Normality Free."
- While props are supplied, if you attend you are welcome to
also bring
- your own medical costumes (scrubs, etc.), signs (follow
nonviolence
- guidelines below), etc.
- WHY:
- "We've done more than 1000 normality screenings and people
love
- these," said Oaks. "And we never, ever have found
normality. We'd
- like to thank Patch Adams' clown troupe in Florence, Italy
for
- helping to inspire this simple skit."
- Patch Adams has been a MindFreedom leader, via the MFI
Sponsor Group
- Gesundheidt Institute, since 1992.
- Oaks said that when doing "normality screenings" inside a
World
- Psychiatric Association meeting in Germany, the
psychiatric drug
- company exhibitors threatened to shut down the entire
conference and sue
- the WPA unless rubber chickens and red squeaky noses were
banned! "These
- are powerful tools," said Oaks.
- Videos of the activists experience inside the WPA are
here:
-
http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/global/world-psychiatric-association
- or go here:
http://tinyurl.com/2rfc9x
- The upcoming 11 Oct. event is being dubbed a "viral
marketing action" by
- 20-year-old Martin Rafferty, chair of MindFreedom's youth
committee.
- Imagine Patch Adams combined with Michael Moore (if you
dare).
- WHO?
- All are welcome! Just show up... Though it's best if you
reserve your
- slot so we can be sure to have a nifty white biohazard
apron just for
- you, to keep! E-mail your reservation to
news@mindfreedom.org
- The only requirement is that this is a peaceful, legal,
nonviolent
- event, following MLK nonviolence guidelines:
-
http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride/mlk-iaacm/peace-rules
- or go here:
http://tinyurl.com/2cf3u3
- The event will be on public sidewalks, and will not
obstruct
- pedestrians.
- SCREEN FOR NORMALITY MONTH!
- The mental health industry calls October "mental health
month."
- MindFreedom has renamed it "Screen The World For Normality
Month."
- There are MAD PRIDE events in Belgium, including a
representative
- from MindFreedom Ghana, Dan Taylor... Australia (a
concert)... UK....
- Missouri (during the Alternatives conference)... and more.
- More info about these MAD PRIDE events this October 2007
are here:
-
http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride/screen-normality
- or go here:
http://tinyurl.com/3dudcq
- For info on MAD PRIDE itself see:
-
http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride
- And who is behind all this ruckus? MLK!
- History is being made... because finally the "MAD PRIDE"
movement has
- been able to actually launch the dream of Martin Luther
King, Jr.
- MLK called -- more than 10 times -- for an "International
Association for
- the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment." MAD PRIDE is
making that
- vision real! For info on MLK & IAACM?
-
http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride/mlk-iaacm/mlk
- or go here:
http://tinyurl.com/2xvqfn
- Perhaps *you* can help launch a global nonviolent
revolution of
- positive weirdness all over the world. If you upload that
on YouTube and
- tag it IAACM, you can also win prizes from MindFreedom
International.
- And after MindFreedom screens the APA for normality in
Arlington,
- Virginia..... Seriously folks....
- Then stick around and attend the conference of the
International
- Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, also in
Arlington, VA,
- starting on 13 October 2007. MindFreedom will have its
MadMarket there,
- and MFI's David Oaks is one of the keynoters. The topic:
"The Universal
- Mental Health Screening and Drugging of Our Children:
Dangers vs.
- Benefits"
- For more info go to:
- http://www.icspp.org
- ACTION:
- WHEREVER YOU LIVE, please spread this alert to everyone,
especially to
- supportive people in and around the D.C. and Virginia
areas!!
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- More news at the MindFreedom News Web Site:
-
http://www.mindfreedom.org
- Don't see a news item? Submit it to
news@mindfreedom.org
- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Joining MindFreedom Is Just Not NORMAL!!!!!
- MINDFREEDOM FALL MEMBERSHIP & RENEWAL DRIVE!
- Join or renew your membership today as part of the Fall
Membership &
- Renewal Drive!
- Go to:
-
http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate
- Become a member or renew your membership now! Build united
strength in
- numbers!
- * Win human rights campaigns in mental health?
- * End abuse by the psychiatric drug industry?
- * Support self-determination of psychiatric survivors?
- * Promote safe, humane, effective options in mental
health?
- MindFreedom is for people who supported united activism!
- MindFreedom is a nonprofit human rights group that unites
100 sponsor and
- affiliate groups with individual members.
- MindFreedom is one of the very few totally independent
groups in the
- mental health field with no funding from governments, drug
companies,
- religions, corporations, or the mental health system.
- All human rights supporters are invited!
- Join or donate here:
-
http://www.mindfreedom.org/join-donate
- For hard-to-find books and gear (including the new book
Alternatives
- Beyond Psychiatry) go to:
-
http://www.madmarket.org
- FOR MORE INFO:
- MindFreedom International Office: 454 Willamette, Suite
216 - POB
- 11284; Eugene, OR 97440-3484 USA
- web site:
http://www.mindfreedom.org
- e-mail: office@mindfreedom.org
- office phone: (541) 345-9106
- toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743
- fax: (541) 345-3737
DENDRITE is a public Internet alert system about human
rights in psychiatry, sponsored by Support Coalition
International, sending out notices to thousands of concerned
people, many of whom take ACTION NOW!
|
|
