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Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2000 10:16 PM
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Subject: Psychiatric Survivors Meet with Gore Staff in White House.


                        Justice For All

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   Psychiatric Survivors Meet with Gore Staff in White House

On Tuesday, May 2 a group representing millions of people with
psychiatric
disabilities met in the White House with Lisa Brown, General Counsel to
Vice
President Gore, and Trooper Sanders, Assistant to Mrs. Gore.  This
meeting
was arranged by David Oaks and Janet Foner of Support Coalition
International and Justin Dart of Justice For All.  The purpose of the
meeting was to convey to the Vice President and Mrs. Gore the civil
rights
aspect of "mental health" - the necessity to eliminate the devastating
discrimination suffered by people with psychiatric disabilities and
psychiatric survivors.  The Gores were urged to take a public stand
against
involuntary confinement, abuse, coercion, forced treatment and
discrimination of any kind.

National Council Chair Marca Bristo presented her agency's landmark
report:
"From Privileges to Rights: People Labeled with Psychiatric Disabilities
Speak for Themselves."  Other prominent participants included Judi
Chamberlin and Ron Bassman.  Following are a writing which the group
presented to Lisa Brown, remarks by Justin Dart and a list of the
delegation.


--


Requests to Vice President and Mrs. Gore

We urgently request a personal meeting with both the Vice President and
Mrs.
Gore, to discuss our human rights concerns about individuals diagnosed
with
psychiatric disabilities. We ask for an initial meeting with our
organizational leadership, and a later more open meeting with a wider
gathering of psychiatric survivors and allies.

We call for recognition and endorsement by the Vice President and Mrs.
Gore
-- and the current administration -- of the President's National Council
on
Disability report, "From Privileges to Rights: People Labeled with
Psychiatric Disabilities Speak for Themselves," including its ten core
recommendations.

Specifically, we request a signal as soon as possible from both the Vice
President and Mrs. Gore that they publicly affirm the following points
based
upon the first three core recommendations in the NCD report.

1. We ask that the Vice President and Mrs. Gore stand with us to oppose
the
rise of involuntary psychiatric treatments such as forced drugging and
inpatient and outpatient commitment, and instead endorse a public policy
direction toward a totally-voluntary community-based mental health
system.

FROM THE NCD REPORT CORE RECOMMENDATION ONE: "Laws that allow the use of
involuntary treatments such as forced drugging and inpatient and
outpatient
commitment should be viewed as inherently suspect, because they are
incompatible with the principle of self-determination. Public policy
needs
to move in the direction of a totally voluntary community-based mental
health system that safeguards human dignity and respects individual
autonomy."

2. We seek a commitment that a Gore Administration would continue the
inclusion on the National Council on Disability a psychiatric survivor
who
concurs with the report's recommendations.

FROM THE NCD REPORT CORE RECOMMENDATION TWO: "People labeled with
psychiatric disabilities should have a major role in the direction and
control of programs and services designed for their benefit. This
central
role must be played by people labeled with psychiatric disabilities
themselves, and should not be confused with the roles that family
members,
professional advocates, and others often play when 'consumer' input is
sought."

3. We call on both the Vice President and Mrs. Gore to stand with us in
opposition to electroconvulsive therapy, also known as electroshock or
ECT.

FROM THE NCD REPORT CORE RECOMMENDATION THREE: "Mental health treatment
should be about healing, not punishment. Accordingly, the use of
aversive
treatments, including physical and chemical restraints, seclusion, and
similar techniques that restrict freedom of movement, should be banned.
Also, public policy should move toward the elimination of
electroconvulsive
therapy and psychosurgery as unproven and inherently inhumane
procedures.
Effective humane alternatives to these techniques exist now and should
be
promoted."


--


Excerpts from Remarks by Justin Dart

My mother, an award-winning author, took her own life because of her
terror
of forced treatment and stigma.

I congratulate the Vice President, Mrs. Gore, Lisa Brown, Trooper
Sanders
and Lon Sorensen on this landmark gathering.

This is democracy at its best.  This is an example of why I, a
Republican,
am a maximum supporter of Al Gore.

I'm so proud to be here today with a delegation of distinguished
advocates
representing millions of people with psychiatric disabilities and
psychiatric survivors who suffer the most devastating discrimination in
our
culture.

My colleagues and I bring a message which has not often been heard in
the
mainstream public dialogue on psychiatric disability.

The time has come to stop involuntary confinement, physical and
psychological abuse, coercion and forced treatment of people with
psychiatric disabilities.

The time has come to eliminate the massive public and media
discrimination
against people labeled mentally ill.


--


Participants

Laurie Ahern
Director
National Empowerment Center
LAWRENCE, MA

Michael Allen
Staff Attorney
Bazelon Center
Washington, D.C.

Ron Bassman, PhD
President
National Association for Rights Protection & Advocacy
Albany, NY

Marca Bristo
Chairperson
National Council on Disability
Washington, DC

Ted Chabasinski
President
Support Coalition International
Attorney
Mental Health Consumer Concerns
Berkeley, CA

Judi Chamberlin
National Empowerment Center
Lawrence, MA

Justin W. Dart, Jr.
Justice For All
Washington, DC

Dan Fisher, MD
National Empowerment Center
Lawrence, MA

Janet Foner
co-coordinator
Support Coalition International
New Cumberland, PA

Loren Mosher, MD
Soteria Associates Mental Health Services
San Diego, CA

David Oaks
co-coordinator
Support Coalition International
Eugene, OR

Tom Olin
Disability Rights Center
Washington, DC

Larry Plumlee, MD
National Capital Area Advocates
Bethesda, MD

Jeff Rosen
Staff Attorney
National Council on Disability
Washington, DC

Rae Unzicker
NCD and NARPA
Sioux Falls, SD


--
Fred Fay
Chair, Justice For All
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