NARPA 2000
Doubletree Hotel Sacramento, CATaking Power to the People:
Knowledge Plus Action
NARPA's 19th Annual Rights Conference
November 8-11, 2000
Doubletree Hotel Sacramento, CA
Link to Conference Schedule, with full listing of workshops
Come join us in Sacramento, California, at the Doubletree Hotel for our Nineteenth Annual Conference. Learn and be inspired by outstanding presenters and each other. Experience the majesty of the giant redwood trees and the incredible natural beauty of Northern California, home of the free-speech movement and of Ed Roberts, the first person to "liberate" a state University campus for disabled students. Re-energize yourself for the personal and collective human rights battles that we must continue to fight. This year our conference begins on Wednesday November 8, one day after a new U.S. President has been elected. It is indeed a time to come together as a supportive community united in a shared mission of social justice for all. (P.S. If you're travelling on Tuesday, please vote absentee before you leave home, though the conference doesn't begin until Wednesday evening.)
NARPA 2000 CONFERENCE NEWS - NARPA's conferences feature great, inspiring speakers and workshop presenters. This year, NARPA's19th annual conference will even exceed those expectations.
Keynote presenters:
Michael Perlin, J.D., is a Professor of Law at the New York Law School. He was with the Office of the Public Advocate in New Jersey and litigated landmark cases such as Rennie v. Klein. Michael now serves on the Board of Directors of the International Academy of Law and Mental Health. His three-volume treatise, Mental Disability Law: Civil and Criminal, won the 1990 Walter Jeffords Writing Prize and his Jurisprudence of the Insanity Defense won the Manfred Guttmacher Award of the American Psychiatric Association as the best book of the year in law and forensic psychiatry in 1994-1995. His most recent book is The Hidden Prejudice: Mental Disability on Trial.
Pat Deegan, Ph.D., is Director or Training at the National Empowerment Center. She is also an independent consultant and has given keynote addresses, lectures, and workshops across the United States, Canada, Europe, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. Dr. Deegan specializes in developing trainings and lectures on the concrete application of the concepts of recovery and empowerment. Her papers have been translated into Spanish, Hebrew, French, Dutch, Norwegian and German. Dr. Deegan will present her acclaimed slide show, The Politics of Memory: A Slideshow on Ex-patient Perspectives on the History of U.S. Mental Health Services. For the past three years she has been working with other ex-patients to discover, recover, and celebrate ex-patient history. Pat's research has lead her into the old vaults and wards of state mental institutions in order to capture images and stories that have rarely been seen by the public. She will share some of these images and stories during the slideshow and will reflect on the liberating praxis of a mad-peoples' history of madness. In addition to this plenary presentation, Dr. Deegan will present a smaller workshop in which she will explore parallels between Eugenics and today's New Genetics.
Jacki McKinney, M.S.W., is a survivor of trauma and the psychiatric and criminal justice systems. She is a family advocate specializing in isues affecting African-American women and their children and is a founding member of the People of Color Network. Jacki has been a consultant and advisor to the Center for Mental Health Services and has engaged in numerous dialogues where she has given voice to the concerns of c/s/x and people of color. Jacki is well-known for the powerfully moving and inspiring talks she has presented to national audiences.
More... Involuntary outpatient commitment will be discussed by a panel of strategists at one plenary session. A second plenary panel of activist leaders will delve into issues of diversity. Each of this year's featured speakers alone are worth coming to hear. They are:
Workshop Presenters: As you can see, one of the most difficult tasks at NARPA is to choose which workshop to attend among the six choices in each time slot. . . Susan Stefan, professor of law at the University of Miami and regarded as one of the best mental health lawyers in the country, will be presenting her very popular workshop updating and summarizing legal decisions that have impact upon the mental health and developmental disability systems. Susan will also present some of the findings on disability and discrimination that are published in her new book, Unequal Rights: Discrimination Against People with Mental Disabilities and the Americans With Disabilities Act.
Rae Unzicker has long been recognized as a leader in the mental patients' rights movement and has published numerous articles for periodical and written essays for books. She has served on the boards of many state and national organizations including Boston University Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation, U.S. Department of Education, and has been past president of NARPA. Rae is the first person with a psychiatric disability to serve on the National Council on Disability, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. She spearheaded their groundbreaking NCD Report, "From Privileges to Rights."
Dan Fisher, M.D., Ph.D., and Laurie Ahern of the National Empowerment Center will present their current work in developing PACE, an alternative to PACT. They will be joined by Darby Penney, M.L.S., who will discuss a pilot program which is attempting to develop and implement PACE in New York.
Judi Chamberlin, author of On Our Own: Patient-Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health System, a book which is often cited and hailed by many as their first introduction to possible alternatives to the mental health system, and, more importanly, their first awareness that there was a "movement" in existence. Judi is a highly sought-after speaker in the U.S. and internationally, and will discuss her current work in promoting cross-disability alliances.
Leonard Roy Frank, electroshock and insulin shock survivor and long-time activist. Leonard has edited and contributed to books which include: The History of Shock Treatment, Influencing Minds and Random House Webster's Quotationary.
Loren Mosher, M.D. will be presenting an update of his work on an alternative to psychiatric hospitalizations that he developed, the Soteria Project. Loren created quite a stir with his searing indictment of the American Psychiatric Association in his much publicized letter of resignation to APA.
Michael Allen, J.D., Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Stoney Polman, M.A., C.R.C., L.P.C., Resource Center for Perons with Disabilities, Michigan State University
Sonja Kjaer, Director, Spokesperson, Co-founder, Tardive Dyskinesia/Dystonia Association, NARPA Board member
Sally Zinman & Jay Mahler**, California Network of Mental Health Clients
Celia Brown, Director of New York Peer Specialist Services
David Oaks, Coordinator of Support Coalition International
Kris Yates, Storyteller, activist, performer, licensed marriage and family therapist, and ECT survivor
Pat Risser, Psychiatric survivor and advocate, chair of PAIMI Council of Oregon, winner ofNational Association of Case Management's Case Manager of the Year (2000)
Andrea Blanch, Ph.D., Director, Center for Conflict Management in Mental Health
Pearl Johnson, Rights advocate and NARPA board member
Kim Darrow, J.D., NY Mental Hygiene Legal Service, "Confronting Kendra's Law"
Ira Burnim, J.D., Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
Eve Edelman, Author, Natural Healing for Schizophrenia and Other Mental Disorders
Peter Cubra, J.D., NARPA past president and children's right advocate
Andreas Liewald, J.D., Illinois Guardianship and Advocacy Commission
Ty Colbert, Ph.D., Author, past NARPA keynoter who challenges the medical model
Emmett Dwyer, J.D., Managing Attorney, Connecticut Legal Rights Project
Debbie Whittle, Holistic counselor, M-POWER, Massachusetts
David Popiel, J.D., Community Health Law Project (NJ)
Stacie Hiramoto, M.S.W., National Ass'n of Social Workers - California, NARPA Board
Bryon McDonald, National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), Center for Independent Living, Berkeley/Oakland
Patricia Werner, J.D., Attorney, Illinois Guardian and Advocacy Commission
Coni Kalinowski, M.D., consultant on the impact of psychotropic medications upon rehabilitation, employment, and recovery, California Department of Mental Health/Department of Rehabilitation
Alicia Lucksted, Ph.D., Center for Mental Health Services Research, University of Maryland, winner, Excellence in Teaching Award, (Department of Psychiatry), IAPSRS Young Investigator Award;
Janet Chassman, Coordinator of Trauma Survivors Initiatives, New York State Office of Mental Health
Will Brady, Winner of this year's Excellence in Advocacy award (CT); Advocacy within state hospitals
Rachel Guerrero, M.S.W., L.C.S.W., children's rights advocate, Office of MultiCultural Services, Department of Mental Health, California
Laura Prescott, Executive Director and Founder, Sister Witness International
Hon. Darrell Steinberg, California State Assembly; California Association of Mental Health Patients' Rights Advocates Legislator of the Year
Ron Bassman, Ph.D., NARPA President; Bureau of Recipient Affairs, NY State Office of Mental Health
In addition to the workshops, there will be some very special evening events including some surprising and rare videos. Conference participants will also be able to attend activities led by Phil Shulman and Judene Shelley. Join them for Empowerment Sing Out and Sing Along: come sing or listen to music that empowers, strengthens, expresses anger, love and the reality of being a c/s/x. They will bring words, CD's, and musical instruments for songs that have been significant in their journey and are encouraging others to bring music, instruments, poems or anything they wish to share.
The last issue of the Rights Tenet newsletter reported on the Highlander Statement of Concern and Call to Action. At the beginning of that landmark Highlander Center meeting, thirty leaders of the disability rights movement sat in a large circle; Each spoke for five minutes about how he or she came to be a part of this movement. It was truly amazing that just about all in attendance mentioned their first NARPA conference and the pivotal role it played in shaping their values, work and personal development.
Whether you are a NARPA veteran or a newcomer, we hope you will come to Sacramento to learn, have fun, and get re-charged for the important work that lies ahead.
Link to Schedule of workshops, events, and featured presentations