Not a Consensus
A multitude of voices and perspectives find expression in the projects profiled on these pages. Don Weitz and Bonnie Burstow, editors of the pathbreaking Shrink Resistant collection, argue that psychiatry should be abolished entirely. Many of the recommendations that came out of the 2013 Maladjusted theatre project, in contrast, argue for increased funding and more doctors and mental health workers. Interviewed in 1993 by Irit Shimrat for her luminous collective biography of the mad movement, Lanny Beckman, himself the instigator of MPA, Canada’s first survivor organization, told Irit that it was important that she understand that they didn’t have to agree. Difference, and the acceptance of difference, threads through the rich history of our culture, enhancing the power of art to give voice, create community, and foster social justice.