people say i’m crazy

All the way from 1989, this one comes to us via the California Network of Mental Health Clients. I began watching it with one question in mind, has anything changed 26 years later? The accents seem dated (why?) and the fashion too, but the disorders haven’t changed. Issues haven’t changed either, and neither has what we want, what we fear, what we feel, what worries us.

::watch it:: on YouTube or read the walkthrough below. (lulz)

“We speak for ourselves.”

Some of my best friends are normal people … Just because normal people started ww1 and ww2, dropped the atomic bomb on hiroshima and nagasaki and committed genocide against native Americans, instituted slavery … I have nothing against normal people, but I wouldn’t want my daughter to marry one.

The comedian there was Ron Schraiber, one of the people featured in the documentary. See more – the wild and crazy guy. I jotted names down as they came up, because I like to salute and remember the people who struggle/db with the same things we do. They were all really good to watch. And you know me by now, I always try to find out what happened to them if I can. I couldn’t find much.

Us
Leonard Kaplan
Ron Schraiber, mental health advocate.
Ray Sterner
DyAnne Freeze
Brenda Willis
Debi Davis
Bobbie Pierce
Howie the Harp, died of a heart attack in 1995, aged 42.

Not us
Dr Michael O’Connor M.D. (maybe this guy)

Leonard said that he didn’t mind being called a monster, because he understood what the person saying it to him was going through. Wow. Just wow. That’s compassion at its finest.  He had 300 ECT treatments and said, “I never thought I was sick, I think that’s a healthy attitude.” He spoke about the importance of a good attitude, of self help and of helping others to help themselves.

What’s so sane about a businessman in Sacramento wearing a suit when it’s 103 degrees?

There was great (sad) footage of DyAnne talking to her husband about the issues she had. The only thing I have to fall back on, is that I’m an ex mental patient, and who listens to a crazy person?

They discussed hospitalisation, peer counselling, the fear of involuntary commitment. They showed a patient’s rights group, a creative advocacy group, an alternative mental health group for Spanish speakers and a social survey project.

Q What term, if any, would you like to be called?
A My given name.
(Wellbeing Survey Project)

They discussed families’ concerns vs patients’ needs. Nothing has changed.

I’m a human being.

They discussed the portrayal of mental illness in the media. Nothing has changed. They discussed the difficulty of finding a job. Feeling like a leper. Being described as unpredictable. Nothing has changed. Mentally ill people struggling on the streets … nothing has changed.

The solution is independent living.

They discussed the value of peer groups, the pros and cons of medication, medication being an individual-specific thing, the possibility of disorders being biochemical, the need for self help. Nothing has changed.

Feel free to link me to anything you’d like me to review. Unless it costs money. I am a poor African – send me your cast off million$.