Any one who read my blog know’s I have mental health problems. I have severe depression that sometimes stops me from leaving the house or even *gasp* tumblring! I sit and cry and harm my self while physically unable to call for help. It’s horrid, if I’m truly honest.
I also have a small group of friends online and we all support each other through our different mental illness. I’m not going to talk specifics, but all I will say is that at least 2 of us will “see” things if they do not take their meds. At least 3 of us have had to go to hospital because of the harm we’ve caused ourselves. Most of us have had to have psychiatric intervention and help at some point in our lives. we range from 17-40.
We are some of those “crazies”.
You know what we aren’t? We are not:
A situation you didn’t imagine getting your self into
An outfit that you wouldn’t imagine wearing
Something (a math problem, a family situation, etc.) you do not understand
A colour scheme
A fashion statement
The time you had last night
Because crazy isn’t just a word. Crazy is a word that not so long ago would have got someone forcibly institutionalised, if you were deemed as such. These were not nice institutions. Me and many others like me(e.g. my friends I was talking about up there) would have been removed from out families, friends and society because we were crazy. Lobotomy’s, electro therapy and torture were all “cures” for being crazy. Being left alone in a cell, chained up and starved was seen as the appropriate way to care for crazy people. Letting them eat their own faeces was acceptable because they were crazy. Because someone being diagnosed crazy a few hundred years ago was practically a death sentence.
This is why it’s not appropriate to use the word crazy to describe something you don’t understand or view negatively. People didn’t understand mental illness (not that they understand fully now) so they looked mentally unwell people away. People with mental illness were treat as less than people, less than animals. Almost like half people, because quite simply, it was not understood.
And you know what? People with mental health problems are still treat with disdain, stigma and puzzlement. And every time you use the word “crazy” to describe something negatively, or something you don’t understand you are just reinforcing that crazy things (read people) need to be avoided, kept at arms length and be treat worse because of it.
I’m not mad at any of you who use it. There a lot of words that have horrible connotations that we don’t realise. It’s easy to slip up, we all do, I do. Even though I have mental health problems, I don’t feel hurt when someone uses the word crazy, because I’ve reclaimed the word. I also understand not everyone who has mental health problems has reclaimed it and I try my god damn hardest to respect that. Because this isn’t about me or you. It’s about everyone who feels hurt and rejected when they hear the word “crazy” being used to describe something that provokes puzzlement of negative feelings. It’s not going to be easy to take the word from your vocabulary, that’s okay. It’s a learning process and we all make slip ups. All I’m asking is that you think about what your saying or writing. Is crazy a word you really need to use?
I’m not expecting all of you to get this. If you haven’t experienced mental illness you will never understand the privilege of not having a mental illness. Not having every behaviour you do scrutinised as a possible suicidal tendency. Being able to leave the house 100% of the time. Not relying on a medication to get you through a day with lucidity.
I’m not asking you to sympathise, I’m asking you to empathise. You might not see why it’s important to stop using crazy in your language, but understand for some people this word just reinforces that they are lesser people, when they are not. And I’m going to assume you don’t want anyone to feel like a lesser person?
(bolding in original)
I just want to c/p this everywhere on the internet. Especially that last paragraph.
(Source: thatfeministwithglasses)
