n the final decade of this millen-nium, after centuries of being so fundamentally and brutally devalued by our culture, there is a glimmer of hope that people who have been labeled with mental illness can reclaim their dignity, can be viewed by others as being people of worth, and can begin to achieve valued roles. There is no doubt that the land-mark piece of civil rights legislation, the Americans with Disabilities Act, will help to remove many of the barriers that have historically prevented those of us with psychiatric disabilities from achieving valued roles in this society. We are all charged with the valued role of carrying a new message of hope, of healing, and of recovery back into the communities where we live, love, work, and worship.