At the end of the day, 'partial equality' is not an option. What's important is for us to be able to figure out what is realistically achievable over the short, medium and long term.

I for one am in this struggle for the long haul - in which full equality, respect and dignity become the only acceptable options.

Psychiatrized people have been forced into making unwanted, unacceptable concessions throughout history, with our liberty and frequently our very lives as the items at stake. It's long past time for the other side to start showing us some good faith, or at least to relinquish their iron grip on our lives.

I'm a realist in that I accept this will take time to accomplish, and that it will be a difficult, often unpleasant struggle.  This is a system rooted in bias that runs extremely deep.

I'm also suspicious of relying too heavily on people fighting from 'inside the system' as to some extent this makes us (once again) dependent on a small cadre of self-styled 'experts' for our well-being or rights.

My sense is that it's probably better that we devote the lion's share of our energies into our own development as effective peer and self-advocates while at the same time not rejecting the support of such genuine allies as exist within the belly of the monster. The bar for determining membership in this latter group out of necessity must be a very high one, however, with very clear boundaries included.