How can we make the world a more accessible place to Mad, neurodivergent, and psychiatrically disabled (MNPD) people? This post includes 28 steps you can take to become a better ally to the MNPD community.
The Mad Pride community is a tiny space being carved out by activists, artists, writers, philosophers, researchers, educators, and visionaries who are finding meaningful ways to choose madness. A few months ago, we asked a group of Mad Pride and Disability Pride activists to share a time when they actively chose madness. We asked them to share the craziest/Maddest thing they’ve ever done, that they are proud of. While some of these acts may not have been “chosen” in the moment, the decision to be proud of these acts and share them in celebration was very much a choice. Without further ado, we now present some of the responses.
This anonymously published site attempts to break the silence on centuries of abuse of mad people committed by the Brattleboro Retreat, formerly the Brattleboro Asylum. The page contains a .pdf of a brochure detailing the history of slave labor and brutal treatment resulting in hundreds of deaths, the vast majority of whom have no record of a final resting place.
Also on the page is a .pdf of findings of misuse of forced drugging, seclusion, and restraint of an elder with a life threatening medical condition.
Mad people will not silenced.
Forced treatment is torture.
Confinement is violence.
