Editorial note: As one might expect, the mental health system was driven by the financial incentives of Big Pharma and per-capita state funding, the psychiatric profession’s power monopoly, and the state’s desire for a mechanism for social control. Chamberlin and others fought against this machine.

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In 2009, Chamberlin was stricken with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. When her insurance ran out, she was told she must move into a nursing facility. Refusing to be institutionalized, she launched a blog documenting her fight. She died on Jan. 16, 2010, at home in her favorite chair. /end

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In the early 2000s, Chamberlin advised a UN committee during the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to ensure the rights of psychiatric patients were protected. Adopted in 2006, the CRPD was the first major international human rights treaty of the 21st century. /9

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Serving as a primary author for the National Council on Disability, Chamberlin delivered the report From Privileges to Rights (2000). It pushed to legally redefine everyday necessities as inalienable constitutional rights rather than “privileges” patients have to earn through good behavior. /8

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Chamberlin co-founded the National Empowerment Center in 1992. Through this federally funded platform, she campaigned to introduce the concept of “recovery” — the idea that people can fully heal from mental distress and lead self-directed lives — into mainstream psychological practice. /7

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