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Event: A Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in celebration of Mad Pride in Hamilton

June 24th, 2013     by Julia Horel     Comments

The Mad Hatter and the Mad Pride Hamilton Organizing Committee cordially invite you and your friends to tea.

What: A Mad Hatter’s Tea Party in celebration of Mad Pride in Hamilton

When: Saturday, July 27th from 1-5pm (tea at 1, open mic starts at 2)

Where: First Pilgrim United Church / 200 Main Street East, Hamilton (wheelchair accessible)

Who: All Mad people, consumer/survivors, people with lived experience or labeled with ‘mental illness’, those who experience distress/visions/voices/alternative realities/extreme states, and friends/supporters

Cost: FREE!

What to bring: Your wackiest hat - or make one when you get here A tea cup - if you can (you’ll take it home with you again) Your creativity Your laughter (and tears) Your pride (and shame) Your poetry, music, art, humour, ideas to share during an open mic Collage materials (like old newspapers/magazines, scissors) Tummy room for snacks!

If you’re a consumer/survivor and would like to request table space at our Mad Market to show/sell your artwork, crafts, knitting, buttons, blog info, peer support group brochure, etc., please contact us as soon as possible by emailing mad.pride.hamilton@gmail.com or leaving a voicemail message at 289-768-4001 or 647-931-7563.

mad.pride.hamilton@gmail.com 289-768-4001 / 647-931-7563 @MadPrideHammer Facebook: Mad Pride Hamilton Join and share our Facebook event: www.facebook.com/events/643543019008834 madpridehamilton.tumblr.com

Please help spread the word!

Submit to our zine (do-it-yourself magazine self-published through photocopying) by July 1st: www.facebook.com/events/248509838623904.

Do you want to join our Mad Pride Hamilton Organizing Committee to help us plan? Or perhaps you can spare some time on or before July 27 to volunteer? Email us.

Mad Pride is an arts, culture, and heritage festival created by psychiatric survivors, consumers, mad people, and folks the world has labeled ‘mentally ill’ (www.madprideto.com). It offers an alternative way for consumer/survivors to get together to celebrate our lives and community instead of the usual telling of individual personal stories of illness and recovery.

Mad Pride has been celebrated around the world for over 20 years. This year marks the 20th anniversary of Mad Pride festivities in Toronto (July 8-14) - and the first year of celebrations in a number of other Canadian cities including Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Hamilton!

Why ‘Mad’? We’re using the term ‘Mad’ (as in madness, not an acronym), like many others, as an umbrella to reference the equity-seeking group of people who individually and collectively use a variety of self/together-identifiers including those listed above as well as: people with lived experience, people in recovery, and people with psychiatric disabilities. It ties us to a long history of Mad people and Mad social justice movement organizing that predates those labeled with ‘mental illness’ since psychiatry’s invention and proliferation over the last 200 years.

The Mad Pride Hamilton Organizing Committee is a group of local community members - self-identifying Mad people and our supporters. It was struck in May 2013 by Hamilton members of the Mad Students Society (www.madstudentsociety.com / www.facebook.com/MadStudentSociety), a national peer support group of students who have experienced the psychiatric system that has been meeting bimonthly in Hamilton since September 2012. (Next meeting: July 2nd. Email outreach@madstudentsociety.com to join.)

Tags: activist report, disability, event listings

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