Tag: discrimination
Locker Room Talk and Stigma
Posted on April 30, 2017 in Bipolar Disorder Clueless Oafs Encounters Frustration Gyms Stigma Violence Writing/Darkness
I so wanted to tell him that I had bipolar disorder
The Basis of My Mental Health/Mental Illness Advocacy
Posted on September 29, 2015 in Advocacy Stigma
This article stakes out my position and makes a stand for what I believe.
Stigma: Blaming the Victim, Denying the Victim
Posted on September 17, 2015 in Netiots Psycho-bunk Stigma
Blaming and denying the victim are calculated to avoid responsibility.
A Letter to President Obama
Posted on August 25, 2015 in Advocacy Stigma
I am crazy. The Republican Congress is willful, destructive, and evil. Please make the separation.
Murphy’s Law and the Nirvana Fallacy
Posted on July 2, 2015 in Advocacy Stigma
I just learned about the Nirvana Fallacy. It’s a logical illusion where you compare a situation or proposal with an unrealistic and/or idealized alternative.
How the Sane Avoid Taking Responsibility for Stigma
Posted on June 17, 2015 in Psycho-bunk Stigma
It didn’t take much editing to make it relevant to those of us who challenge stigma for the mentally ill — not much at all.
Sane Privilege
Posted on June 1, 2015 in Authoritarianism Class Psycho-bunk Stigma
Many of us do not trust the neurotypical. It should not surprise you.
A Mental Health Advocacy Manifesto
Posted on May 29, 2015 in Authoritarianism Caretakers Hospitals and Prisons Psycho-bunk Stigma
Recovery over mere maintenance, patient self-determination over caretaking is the foundation of these reforms.
The Police War on the Mentally Ill
Posted on May 26, 2015 in Accountability Authoritarianism Stigma Violence
The mentally ill are victims of police shootings, not their causes.
Is “It Does Something” A Reason for Supporting Murphy’s Law?
Posted on May 18, 2015 in Accountability Insurance Medical Ethics Psycho-bunk Stigma
Yes, do something about the mental illness crisis — but not this. Murphy and his principal allies are untrustworthy.
Is “High Functioning” Stigmatizing?
Posted on May 8, 2015 in Civic Responsibility Stigma
“High functioning” has more to do with balancing bureaucratic costs than the welfare of the patient.
What is Stigma?
Posted on May 6, 2015 in Accountability Bigots Stigma
The Devil is not the Prince of Matter; the Devil is the arrogance of spirit, faith without smile, truth that is never seized by doubt. The Devil is grim because he knows where he is going, and, in moving, he always returns whence he came.
Umberto Eco
Let me start out by stating that I do not believe in “self-stigma”: I believe in guilt, shame, and despair but labeling these as “self-stigma” cheapens the meaning of stigma. There may or may not be a motive behind the invention of this term, but the result is that it implies that the people who are the principal victims of stigma are in a conspiracy — or confederacy if you prefer — against themselves.
To further explain what stigma is and isn’t, let me use a parallel that was laid out to me by a friend who was explaining certain terms used to describe race relations. White people often accuse African Americans of being racist, too. African Americans dispute this. My friend — an African American woman — acknowledged that African Americans often hold deeply seated racial and ethnic prejudices. But this isn’t racism because racism requires another element: power. White Americans are in a position to make their racial prejudices inflict suffering on the lives of African Americans. Witness, for example, the unwritten DWB (“Driving While Black”) policies of certain police departments including “America’s safest city” (for white people) Irvine, California. The policy is enforced when a black person drives through the city of Irvine. Because of their skin color, they are assumed to be up to no good and pulled over for some minor infraction. The result is that they are made to feel unwelcome in this college town. That is a ~comparatively~ “mild” example, but American history is rife with other exemplars up to the present day.
