News Release – 26 September 2015

David Oaks Psychiatric Survivor Quad Plans to be a Public Speaker, Again

Oaks Hopes “Project Amplify Us” Will Help Others Facing Similar Disabilities

David Oaks in powerchair with his big brother Tony Oaks, friend Rev. Phil Schulman, wife Debra Nunez.

After nearly four decades of activism, mainly for human rights in mental health, David Oaks experienced a big fall and broken neck 33 months ago that put him in a powerchair with a label of “quad” and a number of new challenges, such as an impairment to one of his vocal folds.

Now, with the help of his brother Tony and others, he has launched a campaign to find the best experts to overcome his complex communications barriers. His goal is to once more become a professional public speaker.

Below, you can view the Project Amplify Us online 19-slide show with links to short videos, followed by Frequently Asked Questions:

View The Project Amplify Us Slide Show Here:

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Project Amplify Us

How Can I Help?

Forward this news release about Project Amplify Us to any individual or group who you think might help. This Project is looking for the best resource people! Help surface them.

Are You a Potential Resource Person?

If you might be one of the experts who can address these challenges, let the Project know now: [email protected] Say a little about yourself. There is no obligation.

What If I Have Ideas and Encouragement Now?

While this Project is not trying to solve everything at once, it would be nice to share your ideas and maybe help others too! You may post about Project Amplify here:

• On this blog you may leave a public comment.
• Search in Facebook for a new public group: ProjectAmplifyUs
• Watch for a Reddit sub group in the near future: ProjectAmplifyUs
• Of course, this Project is using this hashtag on twitter: #ProjectAmplifyUs

What If I Have Trouble Viewing the Slide Show?

The Project can email you the show. Contact the Project at: david[email protected]

Is There Any Financial Obligation?

This Project is totally for free, with no costs for anyone to participate. If you would like to donate to the David W. Oaks Irrevocable Trust, please go here.

Updated 21 September 2015:

If you live on Earth and breathe, then you must overthrow what is mistakenly called “normal” and the mental health industry. Why?

Homecare worker Jillian sticks out her tongue while hugging the cat, Bongo. Emergency Rooms look for this sign of distress and name it the Qsign (the tongue looks like the tail of the letter Q)!

Today, our planet is faced with an unprecedented emergency, according to the vast majority of scientists, wise people and just about everybody else. Smart folks tell us that we have the technology, smarts, and economy to address these urgent crises, but do we have the will? It seems that the general public is paralyzed, and as our leaders continue to procrastinate, we are collectively entering into the beginning of chaos.

As my friend “the real” Patch Adams, MD has explained to me for 23 years, one of the most effective ways to reach people is their sense of humor. Yes, the feature movie in 1998 about Patch is a bit syrupy-sweet, but you have to admit the power of wearing a red nose! Seriously, laughter is of course powerful. And we may need a touch of comedy to even look at the absurd reality around us now. That is why some folks are sticking out their tongues (see the photo here of Jillian for example); jokingly, maybe our leaders are waiting for us all to show some signs of distress such as the Qsign!

(rest of entry below)

Updated 21 September 2015:

Please feel free to post a selfie of you sticking out your tongue (known as a Qsign face) to Facebook, Twitter, or both. Please add the hashtag #qsigncrisis to whatever you post wherever. If you post to Facebook, please add your selfie to my Timeline! (If you are not yet a friend, please email me with your Facebook name at: [email protected].)

You are invited to take a selfie doing a “Qsign,” which I will explain in a moment. But first I need to beg for your help, especially if you are one of these young whippersnappers. You see, this week, September 16th, I will turn 60 years old, and I have never been able to start something online that goes viral.

We, David Oaks and Debra Nunez, took this selfie after six hours waiting in the ER at Riverbend, Springfield, Oregon on Thursday, 27 August 2015. Later, a retired ER nurse told us that such tongue-sticking behavior actually can get an ER customer triaged sooner, it is called Q sign! The tongue forms the tail on that Q!

A few weeks ago, I developed pneumonia. My wife and I had to wait in the emergency room for six hours to get an x-ray. To pass the time and show our frustration in a fun way, we stuck out our tongues to the side and took this photo. Later, a person who worked for many years as an ER nurse told us that we showed an actual face that they watch for in the ER as a sign of distress. The face is called the “Qsign” because the tongue sticks out at an angle, which kind of looks like a Q.

So I would like to ask you to take a selfie of you and maybe your loved ones, doing a Qsign. Why?

1. The planet is one big emergency room, but our leaders are ignoring things like the climate crisis. The least we can do is all show our Qsigns, and maybe that will get our leaders’ attention?
2. Hey, I am about to enter my 60’s, and I have spent decades working for human rights in disability, specifically mental health. Come on, show your appreciation, dammit!
3. You can post your photo on Twitter like we did using the new hashtag #qsigncrisis
4. I actually went viral by having pneumonia which I have recovered from. Now I am simply asking you to metaphorically go viral, which sounds a lot healthier. If you want to read about my pneumonia, go here.
5. Showing your Qsign just is not normal! Since what is mistakenly called normal has some of the worst behavior ever to visit Earth, then your Qsign is a blessing!
6. A group of us had a little contest to see who could make the best Qsign and my friend Dale won. Maybe this contest will go global and be the start of a game that will save the world. I have a name for this: Ultimate Wacko!

Wednesday, 26 August 2015

David and Debra on our back deck, “home and in love.”

Today a documentary about 10 ½ minutes long, by my good friend David Zupan, airs on statewide TV and you can see it online for free, details below.

You can see:

• Me tear up my psychiatric label “psychotic”
• Martin Luther King call for us all to be “creatively maladjusted”
• A re-creation of my big fall that broke my neck
• What screwing up your vocal chords can sound like  
• Support from my amazing wife and community
• Us protest for global revolution because of climate crisis

Yes, making revolution visible now all over Earth is a great way to be creatively maladjusted to global warming, and this documentary shows that if I can do it, then so can you!

Here is an actual movie-trailer about one minute long for this documentary:

Producer David Zupan said, “Creatively Maladjusted shows how human rights activist David Oaks and his wife, Debra Nunez, creatively respond to tough realities with the help of courage, community and humor.” The piece will be shown on the Oregon Lens series. (Please see the next page of this blog entry for the links to the 10 and a half minute documentary.)

Make Your Climate Crisis Revolution Visible!

A Free, Easy Poster You Can Download & Post in Your Home, Today

Debra and David welcome you to our home, “Mad Swan.”

A radio personality distorted and verbally attacked the work of Associate Professor Kari Norgaard, a world-acclaimed expert on global warming denial, then kept a transcript of this falsehood-filled show on his website for the past three years, where it still lingers to this day.

His show called Kari a “Wacko.” Rather than dwell on his incivility, here’s something fun, free, and positive we did and you can do, too!

You may print out a simple poster so that your family’s support for a “Revolution,” as Pope Francis has encouraged, is undeniable. Sound crazy? Perhaps, but that is no coincidence! Prof. Norgaard points out that denial of climate crisis is a collective act by us all. One antidote is to make our resistance visible. Talk about this in your daily conversations!

You can also just click and print out this one-page, black-and-white, 8.5 x 11 inch poster:

home-love-revolution-poster (Use the link on the left for the black-and-white PDF.)

Here is what your simple black-and-white version of the poster will look like. You or a child may color it if you like! But please post it where it will be seen!

You or a child may color it if you choose. Post this by your door or some other place people will see it. While a poster may not win a revolution, at least a reasonable person would agree your home is in a revolution, now!

Why Break the Silence?

I often hear some of these metaphors used about humanity today:

• Our combined ability to think and act are paralyzed.
• We the public seem suicidal.
• We are addicted to oil and consumerism.
• We are blind to alternatives.
• We are deaf to the cries of the poor and planet.
• We hallucinate, such as believing that money and technology are more important than our values.

Paralyzed suicidal addicted blind deaf hallucinating. Sure sounds like a disability to me. So maybe the social change movement led by people considered disabled have something to offer now? We, one of largest movements on Earth, are not all about curb cuts! (Please read the rest of this post on the next page.)