NYAPRS Note: The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, the nation’s premiere advocacy group for the civil rights, full inclusion and equality of adults and children with mental disabilities, has selected Chackupurackal Mathai as the Advocate of the Year for his “tireless advocacy on behalf of people with psychiatric disabilities, and particularly those who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color.”
The Center will be honoring Chacku at 7:00pm on November 17th at our virtual Annual Awards celebration, which will be free and attended by people from across the country.
This very special Award aptly recognizes Chacku’s extraordinary efforts to advance the recovery, rights and dignity of all people from across our nation over the past two decades. All of us within the greater NYAPRS family are so very proud of Chacku and so deeply grateful for his historic contributions to our broader community and movement.
Please come and join us at the Bazelon Center’s virtual award ceremony on November 17th. Look for more information about the event in the coming days.
Chacku Mathai
Center for Practice Innovations
Chackupurackal.Mathai@nyspi.columbia.edu
Dear Chacku:
Your tireless advocacy on behalf of people with psychiatric disabilities, and particularly those who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color, has made a significant difference in the mental health world. We want to recognize your contributions to advancing peer support services that reflect the core values of the peer movement and to ensuring that mental health services are inclusive and meet the needs of communities of color.
In appreciation of your work in protecting and advancing the rights of people with psychiatric disabilities, we would like to present you with the Bazelon Center’s Advocate of the Year Award at our upcoming 2020 Annual Awards virtual event.
We would be honored and delighted to celebrate you at our virtual event on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 at 7 P.M. EST, as one of our country’s most dedicated advocates for people with disabilities and for the work of the Bazelon Center. As the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) turns 30 this year, we look forward to a memorable celebration of the contributions many have made in support of people with mental disabilities. Former U.S. Congressman and a primary sponsor of the ADA, the Honorable Tony Coelho will receive our Lifetime Achievement Award. This annual event will be free and attended by people all over the country. Kathy Flaherty, Executive Director of the Connecticut Legal Rights Project, won our Advocate of the Year Award in 2019. Our other Advocacy Awards are in the nominating process and we will announce those very soon.
If you accept our invitation, let me know and our staff will work with you to finalize your plans for participation in the event. On behalf of the staff and the Board of Trustees of the Bazelon Center, we do hope that you will be able to be an integral part of this meaningful evening.
Sincerely,
Holly O’Donnell
CEO