Mind Freedom International Newsletter

MindFreedom International Public Service Announcement
http://www.mindfreedom.org - urgent: please forward
Thursday, 11 October 2007
How to Screen Yourself for Normality for Free!
by David W. Oaks, Director, MindFreedom International
WASHINGTON, D.C.: Today has been declared "Mental Health Screening Day" by the psychiatric industry.
But wait! Don't panic!
MindFreedom International, a nonprofit human rights coalition of 100 groups, launches a campaign today to "Screen the World for Normality"!
You can screen yourself *now*, wherever you are, in five easy steps.
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NORMALITY SCREENING SELF-TEST
1. Make an animal noise. Now. At your computer screen or wherever you are. Make any animal noise: Meow of a cat. Moo of a cow. Anything. Louder the better.
2. Evaluate yourself. Here is how:
3. Did you make an animal noise of any kind? You show no sign of normality. Congratulations!!
4. Did you did *not* make an animal noise of any kind? You show no sign of normality. Congratulations!!
5. Spread the word: Encourage others to take this simple Normality Screening Self-Test!
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WHY SCREEN YOURSELF FOR NORMALITY?
This screening was designed by experts. Every normality screening brings Earth that much closer to declaring victory.
Seriously: End the discrimination and segregation of "mentalism" in the mental health system today! All of humanity are in the same mad boat. It is time to ask some of those "Officially Labeled Mad" for navigation tips.
We normality screeners thank the amazing physician-clown Patch Adams and his international clown network. Their clown troupe in Florence, Italy, helped devise and inspire this normality screening effort.
The Normality Screening campaign is sponsored by MFI's "Voices for Choices in Mental Health Care Campaign" in cooperation with the Mad Pride Movement and the International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment (IAACM), which is a real organization that Martin Luther King, Jr. called for creating more than ten (10) times.
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PLEASE LET OTHERS KNOW about this Normality Self-Screening Test both on and off Internet!
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STAY TUNED HERE for more news.
Just a few hours after e-mailing you this, I and a wonderful MindFreedom Normality Screening Crew -- that includes both a physician and a psychologist -- cross the Potomac River with our rubber chickens and squeaky red noses to peacefully screen for normality directly in front of the American Psychiatric Association headquarters.
Really.
Watch here for results.
We are optimistic.
But then again, we're just not normal.
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A FEW NON-NORMAL WEB LINKS FOR MORE INFO about...
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Screenfor Normality Campaign
Other successful MAD PRIDE activities this week include Belgium (featuring an appearance by Dan Taylor of MindFreedom Ghana Africa)... An Australian music concert... UK's Bonkersfest doing normality screenings... a photo op at the Alternatives 2007 conference in St. Louis:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride/screen-normality
or go here: http://tinyurl.com/3dudcq
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David W. Oaks blogs about normality screening here:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/mfi-blog
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mad Pride Movement:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
International Association for the Advancement of Creative Maladjustment (IAACM) which Martin Luther King, Jr. really truly did call for more than ten times... along with brief videos about how to screen for normality:
http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride/mlk-iaacm/mlk
or go here: http://tinyurl.com/2xvqfn


The only requirement for *you* to call yourself an IAACM leader is peacefully follow these MLK-inspired nonviolence guidelines:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/madpride/mlk-iaacm/peace-rules

or go here: http://tinyurl.com/2cf3u3

And yes, also in the spirit MLK and Gandhi, MindFreedom is seeking to engage psychiatric professional organizations in mediated dialogue.
Videos of MindFreedom activists and allied psychiatric survivor/mental health consumer groups successfully dialoging at the World Psychiatric Association conference in Dresden, Germany in June 2007 are here:

http://www.mindfreedom.org/campaign/global/world-psychiatric-association

or go here: http://tinyurl.com/2rfc9x

In Arlington, Virginia for the next few days you can meet and hear from the normality screeners themselves, who are attending and speaking at the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology conference, special theme of defending youth from psychiatric human rights violations. David Oaks is one of the keynote speakers:
http://www.icspp.org

MindFreedom International Live Free Internet Radio this Wed., 17 October 2007 at 4 pm features an interview with one of the "normality screeners" in front of the APA headquarters today: psychologist and author Al Galves of New Mexico. You can call in live. Host: David W. Oaks.

http://www.mindfreedom.org/radio

And of course, please visit Normal, Illinois, USA. Because once you've visited Normal, Illinois then you too can wave your hands around and honestly say to your friends, "None of this is Normal":
http://www.normal.org

PLEASE LET OTHERS KNOW about this "Normality Screening Self-Test" both on and off the Internet! Please forward, print out and tell people!
More news at the MindFreedom News Web Site:
http://www.mindfreedom.org
Don't see a news item? Submit it to news@mindfreedom.org
MindFreedom International is a nonprofit human rights group that unites 100 sponsor and affiliate groups with individual members. MindFreedom is the only group of its kind accredited by the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with Consultative Roster Status.
MindFreedom International is also 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 a Normality Screening Kit, complete with rubber chicken) 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(at)mindfreedom(dot)org
office phone: (541) 345-9106
toll free: 1-877-MAD-PRIDe or 1-877-623-7743
fax: (541) 345-3737
Please forward.
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