My madness is a natural reaction to injustice.

Not an illness or disorder or dysregulation, not something to fix.

My madness hurts, but it also teaches & protects me, helps me resist & survive.

I don’t want to control my madness, but to have a deeper relationship with it.

If you're in Sydney, I'll be in the installation space at UNSW Kensington until midday on Friday. You're welcome to pop in, sit with me and the cushions and have a chat.

www.events.unsw.edu.au/event/slices...

This project is open to folks who use self-injury and have experienced silencing about that, as well as silencing about our underlying traumas and injustices.

It's also open to those who want to stand in solidarity with us, to witness our testimony into the co-created art cushion.

It's heart work.

I share those dreams and fears with you Grace. I’m so grateful we get to do some emancipatory work together. 💖✊🌱

I don’t know why I’m skeeting this. I don’t expect this repulsive system to change, after so many years I know better.

Maybe I want those with the power to stop this to know I see them.

Maybe I just want to express solidarity with survivors.

I have heard you.
I believe you.

I think of how hard I’ve fought for change on this, in different jobs around the system, yet nothing changed.

No-one really cared. I was told I was ‘over-reacting’. The system, like all institutions, protects itself. It pushed me into madness and even now, I’m shaking yet again.

You might want to blame the individual rapists & they should be accountable.

But the real blame here is institutional.

It rests squarely with nurses & psychiatrists, their directors, their professional ‘chiefs’ in each jurisdiction, with the public servants & MH Ministers.

It’s gut-wrenching to think of the masses of staff who don’t believe us

or who just can’t be f*cked to do anything about it

those who are rapists themselves

and all the bastards with the power to stop it, but they don’t.

This is old news for those of us who’ve been admitted or worked in the system.

Psych units are an intensive reflection of society.

Rape happens everywhere—so when you take away our ability to lock our doors, leave us alone & sedated… well, it’s a recipe for rape.

Thank you Donna 💜

It sure does, and it’s hard to see that’s what so many folks think about us.

I also notice all the bystanders…

Please can folks just stop with the sanist language?

There are loads of descriptive insults that don’t punch down on mad or disabled people, or make the world less safe for us.

Is it only in-person? I’d love to book if it will be streamed online.

(I’ve got no doubt you’ll be amazing!)

I’m not sure, but I’m wondering what the deceased person would say if you could ask them, and whether that could be a guide?

Funerals are so hard. Whatever you decide, I hope the day gets a little easier. 💖

😍❤️