So, last week I was held up at my job, and wasn't able to attend the second WSDR meeting.  During the first meeting they seemed very into the idea of expanding the scope of their activities to include the type of things we were pitching, so it was unfortunate to miss a critical early meeting.  I definitely agree with the type of work they do, but I also think there's a lot of room for TIP on campus.

To expand on something Nic wrote earlier, something that has struck me is WSDR acceptance and adoption of the term "disability rights."  While that makes what they do clear, the term "disability" has a connotation which seems contrary to the spirit of the mad pride movement which we are hoping to capture.  Even "rights" isn't really on track with what we want to accomplish - to paraphrase something Nic said to me, there shouldn't be a process of asserting(proving)  your "disability" in order to have accommodations made for you at university; a learning institution should accommodate EVERYONE they admit.  Rights are something that should be fundamental and universal, they shouldn't have to be fought for, and someone shouldn't have to qualify into a category to be treated properly by an institution providing a service they are paying for.

That said, I do strongly support the kind of activism WSDR are working on; the automatic door openers on many building entrances are malfunctioning, and they are taking this issue up directly with the administration.  However, this physical obstruction to accessing the education a university student has paid for is really symbolic of a much larger phenomena, and much more abstract barriers.   Perhaps an even better analogy would be the wheelchair ramps which run alongside a number of the stairways on the typically steep and irregular campus terrain:  they are so steep they're more useful for skateboard stunts than accessibility.  We also just heard about Active Minds, another group which seems relevant and to share our interests; we definitely fully support the destigmatization of mental illness and tolerance for neurodiversity, and for that matter everything else in their mission statement.

If Active Minds is as active and functional as we hope, it seems to me the nurturative side of the mission we envisioned for The Icarus Project should be largely covered by the efforts put forth by allies like WSDR and AM.  While we wouldn't want to discard that aspect(the queer groups on campus operate independently, but also have a coalition; perhaps this would be a good model for relating TIP with WSDR and AM), this knowledge would allow us to operate the group as the radical action front in the fight central to all three groups.

Now that we know what we do, we could more easily envision Icarus working to a more extreme ends, to take direct action in bringing the concept of Mad Pride to the streets; The Icarus Project could be situated not just as a way of providing mutual support and safe space, but(for the daring members), as the "blac block"of alternate states of consciousness.  I have a number of ideas of how this could work, some more disruptive than others, but we always wanted to make The Icarus Project a very radical movement, and the ground covered by our allies is an opportunity to expand the frontiers of Mad Pride to new ground.
~Nick

"A rational person changes to adapt to their environment, while an irrational person insists on adapting their environment to suit them: therefore, all progress depends on irrational people."