Heroic Judi Chamberlin, Mad Movement Leader, dies at 65

[nofurylike]

from an email:

17 January 2010

I received sad news this morning from several good friends of long-
time mad movement activist Judi Chamberlin in Massachusetts.

I'm sorry to provide this news to you all by e-mail, but last night
Judi died at the age of 65. I send my support to Judi's relatives and
friends, and everyone who admired and loved her.

Many were aware that she was in hospice for some time. True to the
amazing passionate and practical person she was, Judi had a hospice
activist blog you can find at:

Judi Chamberlin hospice blog:
http://judi-lifeasahospicepatient.blogspot.com/

-snip-

Judi has sometimes been called the "grandmother" of the mad movement,
beginning with her pioneering work for empowering alternatives for
mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors with her book "On
Our Own: Patient Controlled Alternatives to the Mental Health
System" (1978).

-snip-

When we celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. on his holiday tomorrow, 18
January 2010, let's also remember all late leaders for a nonviolent
revolution in all justice movements, including Judi Chamberlin.

MAD PRIDE, JUDI, MAD PRIDE!

-snip-

"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."
- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

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peace and solidarity

[nofurylike]

1. i am kind of relieved. i didn't want to bring sad news, but i thought

there might be some here who have been admirers of Judi, as i have been.

if you do read this, i highly recommend reading her blog.


peace and solidarity

[nofurylike]

2. (NPR) Covers Death of Mad Pride Activist Judi Chamberlin

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122706192

January 19, 2010

Advocate For People With Mental Illnesses Dies
by Joseph Shapiro

Judi Chamberlin, who died this weekend at age 65, was a civil rights hero from a civil rights movement you may have never heard of. She took her inspiration from the heroes of other civil rights movements to start something she liked to call Mad Pride — a movement for the rights and dignity of people with mental illness.

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Chamberlin, he says, was irreverent, "brilliant" and "a joy to be around." He also says she was "incredibly brave," because "it obviously takes a lot of bravery to confront a society that's had a different belief before."

Chamberlin told people with mental illness that they were, like everyone else, people with quirks and differences, but with strengths and abilities, too. She wanted people to reclaim the description "mad" as something that was OK.

"She changed it from a word that was a pejorative word," says Whitaker. "That was saying to the world at large: We are worthy individuals, and our minds our worthy, and they're to be respected."

-snip-

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there, at the above link, is the recorded piece, and the article


peace and solidarity