Projects & Events

Aciu! Institute currently helps several organizations, some for a fee and some as volunteers. Please note that Aciu! Institute is independent, and each of these organizations uses our services, but is also independent:

• Unitarian Universalist: David W. Oaks, founder of Aciu!, is the chair of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene Community’s Accessibility Task Force (ATF).

You may download a 4-page PDF flyer about ATF here.

ATF is sponsoring a free webinar on Sunday, May 29, 2022 on Invisible Disabilties. The current flyer, now listing ASL interpreting by Patrick Galasso, is here.

• MindFreedom International: One of the main clients for Aciu! Institute is the former employer for David W. Oaks, who helped co-found MindFreedom International. He was Executive Director for 25 years, until his 2012 fall. The main activity of Aciu! with MFI is to build their Support Coalition, which you can read about here.

MFI and Aciu! have a combine internship program. This great team, with Aciu! Institute Program Coordinator, Kiana Nadonza, can be see in this brief video.

Other Aciu! Institute Projects

Below are a few past events:

Wednesday, 20 January 2021, 6 pm ET, 3 pm PT: Free webinar, “What is ‘Mental Illness’?” Ron Bassman (executive director of MindFreedom International), myself, and Al Galves, PhD (friend, MFI member and retired psychologist in New Mexico).

“What is Mental Illness or What It Is Not” is the first in an educational series co-produced by MindFreedom International and ‘I Love You, Lead on” (producers of ‘Judi’s Room’). This event is reflective of the spirit of human rights activist and psychiatric survivor, Judi Chamberlin and is free and open to all:

https://mindfreedom.org/kb/not-mentally-ill/

To register:

https://tinyurl.com/what-is-mental-illness-2021

Tuesday, 26 January 2021: In Oregon, State Senator Floyd Prozanski has a large work group on a couple of mental health bills. I chair a Subcommittee for Voice/Inclusion of Oregonians with Lived Experience of the Mental Health System. If you are interested in our meetings, every last Tuesday of the month at noon Pacific Time, please email to us at revolution@aciu.info.

Wednesday, 27 January 2021: CareWorks of Lane County, Oregon has our monthly grassroots meeting each last Wednesday at 4 pm Pacific Time. We now have a survey for home care workers, especially those that work in our region:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/lane-county-care-worker

Sunday, 31 January 2021: Our Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene Community Accessibility Task Force has a webinar public forum. I am the ATF co-chair, and our main topic will be about mental health diagnoses and UU values. Plus, we always have time for check-ins and support. For more info, please email to access@uueugene.org.

Friday, 5 February 2021: MindFreedom Oregon monthly Zoom, every first Friday at 2 pm PT. For more information about pre-registering for this free Zoom, please email to mf-oregon@aciu.info.

Wednesday, 17 February 2021: The day that honors Giordano Bruno, who was the last to be burnt to death by the Inquisition, on 17 February 1600. For more info:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giordano_Bruno

I have talked about this previously:

http://davidwoaks.com/?s=bruno&x=0&y=0

Tuesday, 27 April 2021 – Thurs, 29 April 2021: Reeve Summit networks people with paralysis, caregivers, and family members. For more information:

https://www.christopherreeve.org/events/reevesummit

Monday, 3 May 2021 – Thu, 6 May 2021: Peerpocalypse, now mainly online, is the gathering each year for the largest number of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors, especially from the USA. Organized by a nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon. For more info:

https://www.mhaoforegon.org/peerpocalypse-main-page

July 2021: Mad Pride Month! MindFreedom Oregon declared the month of July be devoted to “Mad Pride.” For instance, there is Creative Maladjustment Week from July 7 to July 14. Bastille Day, a traditional day for psychiatric survivor protests, is July 14. And then the next day, July 15, is the birthday of the late-leader electroshock-survivor Leonard Roy Frank.

 

 

Previous Projects & Events for 2020

• When human rights in the mental health system are threatened, it is often helpful to notify other people. For years, MindFreedom International has had a Shield Campaign, with the idea of one for all and all for one. Aciu! Institute is supporting efforts by MindFreedom to retool and expand the Shield.
• Supporting people who choose to leave their involuntary outpatient commitment location, as long as they are not under a forensic court order.
• Completing a MindFreedom International Prisoner Project, involving a survey and resource list.
• Supporting several efforts by Unitarian Universalists, including at my church in Eugene which is reviving the Access Committee. Aciu! will also continue supporting a Facebook group, UU Mental Health Justice. If you are a UU, we would especially love to hear from you wherever you might live.  
• Supporting local efforts for the human rights of unhoused people with disabilities. 
• Aciu! is assisting the National Coalition for Mental Health Recovery (NCMHR) in a survey about solitary confinement (seclusion) and restraints. 
• Encouraging folks to once more give to my medical trust fund. Over the years this has been crucial for the recovery of David Oaks. Now this is a way to support his independent living during the launch of this consulting business. While your one-time gift is appreciated, giving every month automatically really supports this budget. Please note that this is not about basic human needs, which are covered. This is about supporting David’s independence and empowerment during this crucial phase: gifts to David Oaks’ trust fund.

If you would like to continue the discussion about green disability, we would love to hear your thoughts. There are many ways to post your reflections, here is another:

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/greendisability

Currently, Aciu! Institute is working on a social media site to encourage green disability revolution. Please contact Aciu! if you are interested.

One initial step you can take to connect, is to make sure you have access to a private email address with good security. Yes, Aciu! does have access to Gmail as a stand-by. But we also use ProtonMail for a more private, secure email address. You can obtain an email address there for free, or for a more enhanced service you can pay the fee. 

Here are some other free email address services with “Pretty Good Privacy” (or PGP as this encryption is called):

https://www.lifewire.com/best-secure-email-services-4136763

Previous Oregon Calendar of 2020 Activities

Those of you in our beautiful state of Oregon, or who can get here during 2020, have several opportunities to take action, and David plans to be at many or all of these: 

CareWorks of Lane County is an effort of Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network (ESSN) to support caregivers, disabled and family members. They have monthly meetings throughout Oregon, for info: https://www.solidaritynetwork.org/better-care

MindFreedom Oregon is the local affiliate of MindFreedom International. In the past have met near downtown Eugene, but because of COVID-19 all our meetings are currently held on Zoom, so you can participate wherever you live. For more info, the FB is: https://www.facebook.com/MindFreedomOregon/

Opal Network For the last decade, Opal Network has informally built a coalition of more than a dozen agencies that work on mental health, to support the empowerment of mental health consumers and psychiatric survivors in Lane County. We meet on the 5th Tuesday of a month, which occurs about four times a year. For more info, please email to: opalnetwork@protonmail.com

National Association for Rights Protection and Advocacy (NARPA), October 28-31, 2020. NARPA has been one of the main, crucial groups for advocacy for all folks diagnosed with mental disabilities. Their 2020 popular annual conference will be in Portland, Oregon. For more info: http://www.narpa.org/

Peerpocalypse, July 20-23, 2020. This popular annual conference of mental health consumers in Oregon is merging with the popular annual Alternatives conference. David Oaks had a workshop with Christina Peirsol, who is a keynoter. This took place all on Zoom and many of the recordings are available for free. For more information: https://www.peerpocalypse.com/

Oregon Country Fair (OCF), July 10-12, 2020. For more than 50 years, this has united folks in a beautiful area near Eugene (in-person fair was cancelled due to COVID-19, but online events took place lead by OCF). Patch Adams, MD & Carl Hammerschlag, MD were interviewed by David Oaks. For more info: https://www.oregoncountryfair.org/

GreenLane is a Eugene network of businesses and nonprofits that support sustainability. This network has been important to the launch of Aciu! Institute. They meet monthly most first Wednesdays, though because of COVID-19 these in-person meetings are on hiatus. For more info: https://greenlane-sbn.org/