Maria O Mon Sep 24 2007 a 8:32 pm I can relate to Richard's experience!
"People that do speak up, are being retaliated against, and blacklisted"
Yes, it is disturbing and indignant what happened to Richard. I can relate to that kind of treatment from my county (Orange) MHSA administrators. On March 22nd there was a MHSA public hearing regarding the voting for allocating money for the wellness center. To my surprise there were three tables with approximately 20 Latino men, all Spanish speaking. It was a surprise to me because since I have been involved in the MHSA stakeholders committees there has been zero Latino representation. Usually I am the only advocate representing this community. Anyhow, I went to each table and asked them if they knew what that meeting was about. They told me that they were labor workers and that they were picked up form the nearby park and that they were promised $25 and free lunch. They also said that they were told that this was going to be a "boring class" and just to hung in there. I felt indignant and yes as they were thanking the attendees for their participation I stood up and denounced that using labor workers as Latino consumers is not only fraudulent, but indignant to assume that Latinos are poor and ignorant, which is far away from reality. I also pointed out the lies written in the MHSA draft where it is stated that they will use the Spanish speaking media to reach out to this community, which it has not been done. The situation became even more repressive for me when that day two NAMI administrators (I was in that time employed as the Latino Outreach Coordinator for NAMI OC) retaliated against me by prohibiting me to speak up. What I did, they said, It was not appropriate and that it was a "dramatic outburst" Those two words I heard them again by the county Family Advocate Dane Libart who told me , " you know us the government don't allow people like you to take forums and act like you did" and that I needed to apologize! Later I was forced to resign NAMI. They used intimidation tactics like bringing a lawyer and gave me a list of 13 "not to do" items. Of course the #1 was no more outings to county affairs, blah blah blah. How dare of them, I was not getting pay to attend any meetings at the county! I was getting paid only 17 hours a week when my work required more than 40 hours!
Since then amigos it has been a saga. I have applied for Mental Health Specialist jobs 13 times and interviewed 5 times with no avail. I asked HR for explanation as to the reason for not hiring me and their answer is that they have had so many qualified applicants and of course I was not one of them. Few weeks ago I had an interesting meeting with a BMH and MHSA board member who asked me to meet with her to discuss some important matter. This person told me that she spoke to top administrators about me not being hired and that they told her that they will not hire me because I did not apologize to them???
It has been difficult for me. Since then I went and came back from a psych hospital, I am still unemployed, but I am still involved in some committees and yes, I am still speaking up!
The truth ladies and gentlemen it is painful being an advocate. This kinds of discriminatory practices affect us all and like Dr. Dan Fisher said, "If you do not address these issues then you'll become part of the problem" We, advocates need to feel supported by those who can do something about it so OAC please come by Orange County that we do have a lot of stories to tell.
