CA ILC Speaks out About Psycho Donuts.

Sarah Triano's Comments to the Campbell City Council about Psycho Donuts

Mayor Kennedy and Members of the City Council My name is Sarah Triano. I am the Executive Director of the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center, a disability service and advocacy organization serving people with disabilities in Santa Clara county.

I'm here tonight on behalf of a coalition of over 20 different local, state, national, and international organizations who have serious concerns about a new business that just opened in Campbell called "Psycho Donuts."  The name "Psycho Donuts" in and of itself is offensive, but one could argue that so are the names of many other businesses, including Hooters, the Washington Redskins, Four Eyes. What makes Psycho Donuts different and takes it into a completely different realm of offense is the marketing approach used by the owners, which is based on discriminatory, stereotypical, and incendiary depictions of people with mental and psychiatric disabilities. The store is advertised as a "fun mental institution," a "lighthearted insane asylum"

complete with a padded cell where kids can take photos while wearing a straightjacket, a "shock therapy" area, employees dressed in white lab coats, and donuts named after psychiatric disabilities, such as Massive Brain Trauma.

Anyone who builds a business on the theme of a "fun mental institution" has clearly never been in one and is either unaware of or indifferent to the 58,000 people currently confined in psychiatric institutions in the U.S.

where significant human rights violations are occurring every day. Anyone who would offer children a photo op in a straightjacket has clearly never been in one and is completely unaware of or indifferent to the fact that each year, approximately 150 people with psychiatric disabilities die in institutions as a result of seclusion and restraint practices, with children accounting for over 25% of those deaths. And anyone who would sell a donut called "Massive Brain Trauma" has clearly never had one and is either unaware of or indifferent to the 300,000 troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with traumatic brain injuries and the hundreds of service men and women who are at the multi-trauma center in Palo Alto right now struggling with traumatic brain injuries and mental health issues as a result of their heroic service to our country.

Psycho Donuts in Campbell may not be killing people with psychiatric disabilities, but they are capitalizing on a system that does. And as Martin Luther King, Jr, once said, "Even though morality may not be legislated, behavior can be regulated." Even though Psycho Donuts is not breaking any federal or state law, what they are doing is most certainly morally reprehensible and in violation of Section 5.01.145 of the Campbell Municipal Code which provides grounds for revocation of a business license when the operation of that business is "contrary to public morals." But we're not here tonight to get Psycho Donuts closed down. We're here tonight to ask some tough questions of the city of Campbell, questions like:

• Why isn't a business plan required to obtain a business license from the City of Campbell? And could that have served as a check and balance in this particular situation where thorough market research was clearly not done?
• Who in the City Clerk's office approved the business license for Psycho Donuts and when was the last time that person received disability awareness training?
• Has the economic situation gotten so bad in Campbell that business owners here have to resort to the oppression of other communities to make money? and
• Given the current situation, will the City of Campbell now agree to act as a mediator to facilitate a series of constructive dialogues between the groups in our coalition and the co-owners of this business so that we may achieve a common solution that fully addresses the serious human rights issues raised by "Psycho Donuts"?

Yesterday, I met 1:1 with one of the owners, Mr. Kipp Berdianski, and presented him with a list of 4 demands including a complete change of the business name and theme. While Mr. Berdianski was open to these changes, he was unwilling to make them without direct funding from us for the costs associated with those changes. While we refuse to pay for Psycho Donuts to change, we have put in calls to see if funding from the Mental Health Services Act may be used to assist this local business in doing the right thing. But if funding cannot be found, and Psycho Donuts refuses to change, we have a problem. We have a major problem.

And why is it your problem, you might ask? Whether you want it or not, the national spotlight is now on Campbell, California, and organizations all over this country are watching and waiting to see how the city of Campbell will respond to such blatantly and morally reprehensible behavior against people with psychiatric disabilities. Like Selma, Alabama in the 1960s with its "whites only" lunch counters, Campbell, California is now faced with a choice. How you choose to respond to the civil and human rights challenge posed by Psycho Donuts will ultimately color how your city is viewed in the history books. How do you want to be known?

And closer to home, think about what kind of community you want to create for your children? A community divided by discrimination and fear? Or an inclusive community that values diversity and all human beings? Together, I know that we can deepen the understanding of what it means to be a human being and dedicate all of Santa Clara County to an inclusivity that values the dignity, equality and worth of every human being.

Human rights are inherent to all human beings, including those with psychiatric disabilities - we cannot afford to let the thoughtless actions of some erode the rights of others to live with respect and dignity. Thank you for assisting our efforts to uphold the respect and dignity of all human beings.

Comments

[Rebekah Robertson]

I cannot have said it better myself. I work for a non-profit organization who deals with traumatic brain injuries and I find no humor in this donut shop. In fact I have started a petition on care2.com to have them change their names or shut down. So far I have received responses mostly from California but also from places like Alaksa, United Kingdom and Germany. Please if anyone wants to sign go to the link below because I need 2,000 signatures and only have 45.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/302/petition-to-remove-psycho-donuts

[Lewis Armistead]

While we're at it, don't forget to start a highly publicized campaign to make sure that movie theaters showing classic films change the title of a certain Alfred Hitchcock thriller, starring Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, to "Individual with Paranoid Schizophrenia Who Acts Out Innapropriately After Having Chosen Autonomously to Reduce the Dosage of His Prescribed Medication." or something that is equally sensitive and snappy.

[george ebert]

I am an individual who was effectly disabled by psychiatric treatment. The attempts at political correctness that puts people like me into a "psychiatric disability" box annoys me. Many of us identify the problem as organized psychiatry - and the good people who try to speak for us about their issues. If you are really interested in human rights help us stop forced drugging and shock treatment. Quite simply - FORCED PSYCHIATRICF TREATMENT IS TORTURE.

[Crystal Osborne]

You are kidding me right? I applaud any person willing to take a stand or support a cause that helps those who cannot help themselves. I have had plenty of family members who were victimized by psychiatric practices going back to shock therapy to today's medicated frenzy. I know and believe there are better uses of your time than to attack the name of a donut shop. I have been to the donut shop, it is fun atmosphere, is a great place for local artists to hang their work. Your attack of this business is entirely unfounded. You are also attacking people's right of self expression. While it is important to be sensitive to others, it is also important for us to maintain our rights as American's to free speech. Your efforts currently does not support that, and you are most definitely one of the many who are taking away America's freedom. It's a name, you want to do something effective? Take on the FDA, a dear friend of mine is consistently taking on cases against the FDA for their approved practices you find so horrible. HE IS BEING EFFECTIVE. He wins some and he loses some, all in all each case helps thousands every day. You taking on a donut shop shows how effective you and your fight is. Picking a fight with a little guy trying to survive is pathetic. Using the media as your weapon shows even more what a coward you are. Fight the good fight, not this pitiful path you are currently on.

[Jean Arnold]

The use of ridicule to market products adds to the public's indifference to abuse. Why do mental health advocates fight for years for reform with little progress? In part because public support for change is lacking. It's especially sad to see small children being programmed this way.

[fred sugar]

Massive brain trauma?! Mr. Berdianski has obviously never (I would hope) had personal/professional experience with anyone with a serious brain injury. If he has any idea of just what a brain injury involves and still thinks he is funny, he has crossed the line from being merely ignorant to being seriously disturbed himself.

[John Forward]

I recently visited an establishment by the name of Psycho Doughnuts. Upon arriving, I was shocked to read a giant sized excerpt from a local publication taped to the window.

To start with, my stomach began to sink when I saw photograph at the top of the article depicting three people dressed in medical garb, attending to someone in a straitjacket, and appearing quite animated as they portrayed themselves administering medication from a giant syringe. I had heard some things about the opposition to this establishment's theme, and I was curious, in fact, ready to write it off as a joke. But this photograph was the first thing that made me stop and think -- or feel, rather, sick.
Let me tell you why my response was so strong. It is the memory of my son in restraints being administered medication by syringe at Stanford Hospital. My son was only 17 years old, a rising star with a gift for sports and a brain to match, with the brightest future I can imagine for any young man. Unfortunately for him, and for our family, he was stricken with bipolar disorder, entered a psychosis and was in and out of jails, hospitals and psych wards for the next six years.

Obviously, I turned away and left. The first thing I looked for was some sort of organized effort against this article and this business. I am joining with many others to seek legal action against this establishment and all of those connected with the approval, conscious endorsement or promotion of this unacceptable and unimaginable insult to a large number of citizens who are stricken a serious mental disorder.
--

[h]

I stopped in to Psycho Donuts to see what the fuss was about. Now that I've been there, I find it hard to believe that their donuts, or their shop in general, can affect anyone's existing opinions on mental illness, any more than The Flintstones affects people's existing thoughts on what cavemen were like. The donut store is total camp. An argument trying to link what's going on in that store to perceptions of true mental illness is a extreme stretch. The (exploding) Ford Pinto of the 1970s never tarnished the horse's image.

Can it hurt some people's feelings? Can it make some people uncomfortable? Sure, and clearly it has. And that's too bad. I can't say that's grounds to get the store's business license revoked, or to force them to change the name.

And to try and link it to something greater than hurt feelings; to say the public is being tricked or lulled by a store that actually has nothing to do with mental illness, seems cheap at best, disingenuous at worst.

I also find it disingenuous that Campbell residents and others objecting to the donut shop on moral standards have, for many years now, been completely fine with Campbell being home to a recreational drug paraphernalia shop (420 lifestyles) -- a true headshop for the aid of illegal activity, not just linked to drugs via a "theme" like the donut shop -- that has never been protested. It doesn't pass the sniff test. It looks like something else is going on here, and it casts the mental illness awareness advocates in a bad light. :(

[Kate]

I agree with a previous comment: the place is total camp. I also agree you should be going after big government instead of a very small donut shop ( that happens to have some of the best donuts around). They seem to be doing pretty well despite the recession because of their unique style and name. I do think it's odd that you are so anxious to go after a small shop and perfectly willing to ignore places like El Pollo Loco (The Crazy Chicken) and all the ridiculous movies on the Sci Fi channel that paint mental facilities and their operators in an even worse light than Psycho Donuts ever could. Maybe you just find it easier to chew up the little fish than to seek out sharks but all you're really doing here is hurting a small business that's actually managing to survive in a very harsh environment. I realize you are just trying to draw attention to a cgreater cause (that, at heart, the closure or change of Psycho Donuts would do nothing to support) but attacking a smallbusiness only demeans your cause and makes you look small yourselves. This is not the way to change society.

[Sam]

This is silly and I certainly hope the City of Campbell has better things then to stomp on a small business during these tough economic times. Campbell should support Psycho Donuts.

Those people who feel offended by the theme of Psycho donuts need to have their heads re-examined and try to figure out why they're so insecure.

Please go do something more constructive with your time and do some community service projects.

Absolutely ridiculous!

[cass]

LOL what a good laugh for me. the place seems awesome..please bring one to the East coast!!!

[DRH]

It's kinda funny that various businesses NOT being attacked are all within a few blocks of Psycho Donuts and on the SAME street, Winchester : El Pollo Loco, 420 lifestyles and Crazy Buffet. There has been ample time to protested these businesses.

[Lorraine Zeller]

The story I posted was deleted, probably due to obscene language. It was about being forced into restraints and losing bladder control as a result of being trapped in the restraints. The description of how my friend lost control of her bladder due to having to wait too long for a female staff to help her to the bathroom was graphic. What happened to her as she was trapped in restraints WAS OBSCENE!

Our truths must be spoken so those who thoughtlessly have their children pose for pictures in a straightjacket at Psycho Donuts might begin to understand. My hope is that their children never have to undergo the humiliation of that reality!

Editors, please allow us to speak our truths!

[DRH]

Now waitjusaminutethere! Psycho Donuts is bad because there exist incompetent nurses somewhere on the planet? By that reasoning, Roux, NOLA and Poor House Bistro should all be shut down because a woman was raped during Mardi Gras.

Your friend's emotional trauma can't be dealt with by trying to force the entire world to tippy-toe around her forever.

[rebecca]

Is it true we've given up the fight?

http://psychodonuts.blogspot.com/

Why aren't we agreeing to debate these scumballs on TV ?????

[dhydar]

There *was* a debate; here's some coverage for ya -

http://hydarblog.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/some-impressions-on-the-psycho-donut-debate/

... and a note here ...

http://hydarblog.wordpress.com/2009/07/26/a-disturbing-point-mad-in-the-psycho-donuts-debate/