People Who Inspire Us

Roscoe Dunjee (1883-1965)

"Roscoe Dunjee, editor of Oklahoma City's only black newspaper, led the way in the struggle for civil rights in Oklahoma and in the Oklahoma City black community. From 1915 to 1954, Roscoe Dunjee published the Black Dispatch and endeavored "to interpret the mind, the aspiration, the object, and longing of his people" to the broader community."

Below, perhaps the greatest words of encouragement we have ever heard recounted:

"Girly, don't you ever give up, don't you EVER give up."
     --Roscoe Dunjee to Ada Sipuel Fisher
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Roscoe Dunjee was a great encourager to Ada Sipuel Fisher in her successful fight to become the first black student at the University of Oklahoma Law School. Mrs. Fisher was represented by the great Thurgood Marshall who subsequently was appointed a US Supreme Court Justice.
Clarence Darrow
     The youtube video at right is of a rare 1932 recording of the iconic American attorney -- Clarence Darrow.
          Are all his observations on target today -- maybe not -- AND Many still are.
         
          Darrow's 1903 address to the inmates of Cook County Jail:

 "In one sense we are all equally good and equally bad, we all do the best we can under the circumstances."

        We think he hit it out of the park!

Carly Fleischmann

Carly has Autism, generally considered a developmental disability.  However, some of these distinctions don't always make sense -- for example is ADHD a developmental disability, a mental illness, both, neither?  

In any case, we are assuming anyone reading this is human.

Why Carly inspires us -- and why we think she inspires most people -- is that she demonstrates so clearly that people's assumptions about us can be so terribly wrong . 

Elyn Saks

Elyn Saks -- Professor of Law, Psychology,  Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences
at the University of Southern California, MacArthur Fellowship (aka Genius
Grant) Recipient, and a person with  schizophrenia. 

See  and hear Professor  Saks on TED Talks:
Elyn Saks:  Seeing Mental  Illness from the Inside

Read Professor Saks' New York Times Op Ed piece:

"Successful and Schizophrenic"

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/
opinion/sunday/schizophrenic-not-stupid.html?_r=0

Check out Professor Saks' institute:
Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and Ethics 

http://weblaw.usc.edu/centers/saks/

Andrew Solomon, writer

"There is always somebody who wants to confiscate our humanity.  If we live out loud, we can trounce the hatred and expand everyone's lives."

Joe Pantoliano

“You cannot be anonymous with mental illness. You really  have to  talk, loudly, and say ‘Hey, I’ve got it, I’m  functioning, my life is better for  it.’
     Joe Pantoliano to NBC News Anchor Brian Williams.

        Soprano  actor and activist Joe Pantoliano founded a non-profit  organization, No Kidding, Me Too!, to unite members of the  entertainment  industry in educating the public about mental illness.  He also has dyslexia.
        
        The title comes from the response he’s heard all too often after divulging  how mental illness affected him and his family. He’s also shot a documentary called No Kidding, Me  Too!.
       
        Link to  No Kidding, Me Too -- http://www.nkm2.org/