With your leadership people with psychiatric disabilities have recorded dramatic progress toward participation in the mainstream of society. But the job of science and democracy is far from finished. In spite of America's astounding ability to create economic and social prosperity, millions of people with and without disabilities still live in situations of oppression, poverty, and desperation. People with psychiatric disabilities are still among the most oppressed people in the world. Millions are denied employment, health care, housing.
Millions live in abject poverty.
Millions are imprisoned in backrooms and institutions, forced to take drugs and other treatments in violation of their most fundamental constitutional rights. All people with psychiatric disabilities are scapegoated daily in the public media. I propose that we of the disability communities unite with all who love justice to lead a revolution of empowerment. We have unique knowledge, unique experience, and therefore unique responsibility to lead a revolution, to create a culture that will empower every single individual including all people with psychiatric disabilities, to live his or her god given potential for self determination, productivity and quality of life. Empowerment means choices - individual choices about where we live, how we live, choices about where we work, how we work and most definitely choices about our health care.