• Also, just to endorse what TSK said: Mental health is probably the single most stigmatised form of disability and that widespread stigma, born, as TSK says, out of ignorance and fear, in turn makes the issue worse.

    Think of it simply in these terms: Just as people get injured falling off tall things or in traffic collisions all the time, so people get mentally injured--through abuse, cruelty, bad luck, or other factors. It's a perfectly normal thing to happen. Just like physical injuries, you want to prevent them, of course, but you don't go up to someone who's broken his arm in a skiing accident and blame them for taking risks while skiing--shit happens, and people need help and support first and foremost. Mental illness often happens because of a lack of help and support, and can certainly get worse. One of the worst things is this feeling of isolation from the rest of the community, being completely deprived of opportunities, and so forth. Only very few people are a danger to others and benefit, often at their own request, from sequestration.

    Just saying, as there's been a lot of prejudice expressed in the last couple of pages, and I'm afraid 'doubly ironic' 'jokes' that sound exactly like disablist discrimination just don't do it for me.

About