Things that, as a mentally ill person, I do not find offensive:
Using the words âcrazyâ or ânutsâ or âinsaneâ to describe something unexpected or incredible, such as âMars has two moons?! Thatâs crazy!â or âWow, those Westboro Baptists sure believe some crazy shitâ or âthat party was insane!â or âYou really think you can have unlimited chocolate by cutting it a certain way? Are you insane?â or âOne Directionâs fans went nuts when they stepped out of that chariot.â
Using words like âlunaticâ or âmadmanâ to describe someone whoâs behavior is fanatical, like âWhy is that raving lunatic shouting about abortion at this soldierâs funeral?â
Things that, as a mentally ill person, I find incredibly offensive:
When you use the words âcrazyâ or ânutsâ or âinsaneâ or âlunaticâ or âmadmanâ or any variant as a way of dismissing me or people like me and acting like weâre not full people
The portrayal in the media of mentally ill people as not existing beyond their illness on the rare occasion weâre shown as existing at all
The portrayal of mentally ill people as dangerous, or more violent than mentally healthy people, or less intelligent and competent to run their own lives than mentally healthy people, and the fact that a lot of writers donât seem to understand that âmentally illâ is not a motivation.Â
The fact that every time thereâs a mass shooting or a bombing or an attack and they canât scapegoat a religion or race for the crime, the perpetrator seems to grow a mental illness just in time for the trial, and people think that explains (or in some cases excuses) what they did
The fact that when people push for not allowing people who canât use them responsibly to own weapons, they always seem to start at âmentally ill peopleâ on the list of people who shouldnât be allowed handle weapons, even though thereâs no correlation between mental illness and violence.Â
When people say âyouâd have to be crazy to (commit atrocity)â even though no, sane people commit atrocities all the time. In fact, most violent crime is committed by people with no mental illness.Â
The fact that I have literally seen otherwise-progressive people suggest that all mentally ill people be registered by the government, and perhaps required to identify themselves, and maybe imprisoned for public safety if the need arises. How would you have us identify ourselves? Should we wear a patch on our clothes, or just present our papers upon request?
But I think what really gets me the most:
When mentally healthy people call others out on our behalf when it comes to things on the first list, but remain completely silent about, or even actively complicit in, everything on the second list.Â
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