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NARPA Mission Statement NARPA is dedicated to promoting those policies and pursuing those strategies that represent the preferred options of people who have been labeled mentally disabled. NARPA is committed to advocating the abolishing of all forced treatment laws. NARPA believes the recipients of mental health services are capable and entitled to make their own choices and they are, above all, equal citizens under the law. To the extent that the recipients and former recipients may need assistance to support or express or achieve their preferences, NARPA is committed to promoting rights protection and advocacy which focuses on both the right to choose and the specific choices of those who request assistance. Therefore, NARPA’s fundamental mission is to help empower people who have been labeled mentally disabled so that they may learn to independently exercise their legal and human rights. NARPA Rights Tenet: Summer 2004 page 2 Inside This Issue: Musician Michelle Shocked: NARPA Conference Keynote Address................................................................................. 1 NARPA Conference 2003: United for Social Justice Two Views ......................................................................................... 3 President’s Message ..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 NARPA/NAPAS Dialogue ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 Loren Mosher Remembered......................................................................................................................................... 5, 20, 21 Just Trying to Find Myself -- for Pearl Johnson .......................................................................................................................... 5 Networking in Action: NARPA 2003 Photos ........................................................................................................................ 9 Insulin Shock: A Survivor Account of Psychiatric Torture .............................................................................................. 14 Three Honored with NARPA 2003 Awards ........................................................................................................................ 24 Editors: Darby Penney and Ron Bassman Production: Will Hall Mailing address: The Rights Tenet, c/o Anne Krauss PO Box 1712, Port Washington, NY 11050-1712 Phone: (516) 944-3533 Email: admin@narpa.org web: www.narpa.org The Rights Tenet welcomes submission of letters and other original material to be considered for publication, preferably via email. Submissions via mail will also be considered, although no mailed materials will be returned except with prior arrangement. The Rights Tenet is a publication of the National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy. Laura Ziegler President Vermont Celia Brown New York Board of Directors Judi Chamberlin Secretary Massachusetts Ron Bassman New York Oryx Cohen Massachusetts Dennis Feld New York Leah Harris Washington, DC Bill Stewart Kentucky Darby Penney Vice-President New York Tom Behrendt Treasurer Connecticut Stacie Hiromoto California Gail Hornstein Massachusetts Sonja Kjaer Washington Nestor Presas California Pat Risser Oregon
Two Views NARPA Conference 2003: United for Social Justice Neely Anne Laurenzo To Continue Receiving the Tenet, Join NARPA or Renew Your Membership Today If your mailing label shows a date before 05/03, this may be your last issue of the Tenet. Due to difficult economic conditions, we can no longer be as generous with our complimentary issues. Please make your check or money order payable to NARPA and send to: NARPA PO Box 1712 Port Washington, NY 11050 My first NARPA conference in Austin, Texas, was the single most moving and informative experience I have had with any assembly of activists. I felt the loving cohesion of a broad and understanding community of admirable people, people who have overcome incredible traumas, risen above painful stigma, and fought intensive battles with the United States’s mental health and legal systems. I also learned an incredible amount of new information about various topics, which I hope to now share with those who didn’t make the conference. And the best part? I made a lot of new friends and had a damn good time doing so. Why did I come to NARPA in the first place? I flew into Austin without any real goals in mind. I had read about the c/s/x movement and David Oaks recommended I travel to Austin to meet the people behind the activism. So I begged the wonderful NARPA board to let me take part as a student seeking information about the c/s/x world. Luckily, for a few small duties – raffle ticket, ANYONE? - I was able to join NARPA for their four-day conference. Just imagine those first moments – I am standing confused in the hotel lobby searching for a sign as to where the registration table might be. Am I in the right place? The hotel workers were clueless. And then Seth came forward with a smile and a handshake – are you here for NARPA? At last, I made a connection. We helped each other find the registration area. This is when I first began to sense NARPA’s commitment to cooperation and kindness. As we approached registration, there was a huge banner over the registration table – some- Neely Anne Laurenzo continued on page 16 Oryx Cohen Around 200 people came together in Austin, Texas on November 20 – 23 for NARPA’s 2003 Conference. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and the theme was “United for Social Justice.” This was my third NARPA conference and my first as a board member. As a psychiatric survivor fighting for human rights in the “mental health” system, and a relative newcomer to the consumer/survivor movement, I have found the internal politics of our movement almost as fascinating as the external politics we grapple with on a daily basis. Within our movement, we have disagreements about all sorts of issues ranging from the use of medications to the extent we should be organizing internationally to the politics of accepting government funding. Once again, NARPA (which is not governmentally funded) provided a most unique setting for people who consider themselves “consumers,” “survivors,” “ex-psychiatric inmates,” “lawyers,” “activists,” “doctors,” “advocates,” “vegan anarchists,” and even “John Travolta freaks” to come together, argue, laugh, cry, and share their humanness. As the NARPA 2003 theme implies, our collective hope was to negotiate our sometimes disparate views, reach out to our allies, and “unite for social justice.” The opening keynote presentation on Thursday evening, “Famously Shameless,” was given by Michele Shocked, a popular and talented recording artist. Before her talk, Michele led an impromptu chorus of “Amazing Grace” in memory of Pearl Johnson, a former NARPA board member who died last year, leaving a long legacy of work with consumers/survivors and the African- Annual Membership Fees: Oryx Cohen continued on page 17 ___ Basic $35 ___ Sponsor $50 ___ Organization $100 ___ Subsidized $25 Name: __________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________ City:________________________ State____ Zip________ email (receive e-updates): ____________________________ NARPA Right Tenet: Summer 2004 page 3
Page 1: “Famously Shameless” SUMMER 200
Page 5 and 6: Dissident Psychiatrist Loren Mosher
Page 7 and 8: The psychiatrist informed me that a
Page 9 and 10: Networking in Action: NARPA 2003 Ph
Page 11 and 12: Larry Plumlee, Bethesda, MD, is obv
Page 13 and 14: Rachel Freund of Pittsburgh greets
Page 15 and 16: Day 24- Treatment 63 “Pt. became
Page 17 and 18: in the long run! The next morning,
Page 19 and 20: ning on time, how strange! This was
Page 21 and 22: would become the territory of our n
Page 23 and 24: Crazy Women Madness, Myth, and Meta

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