I’m far less upset about being called ‘mentally ill’ than by the presumptuousness of people like this. The type that has to emphasise he/she is a ‘survivor’ and has 'lived experience in a way that excludes those who don’t adhere to his/her POV re mental illness.
Another term used is ‘expert by experience’. Another term hijacked by the type of person who’d be totally against a forum such as this.
This is exactly the same as the debate between “disabled” and “people with disability”. Why can’t we just say “disabled”? Disabled isn’t a bad word.
@laetitia Totally agree with you. This is what I wrote recently on an autism forum.
The biggest problem I have with ‘identity’ politics is those that’ll hyper aggressively jump down your throat if you inadvertently get a pronoun/word usage ‘wrong’ . There’s absolutely no understanding with such people that people are far more likely to be good than to be near perfect.
For me when ‘identity’/‘ideal use of language’ become dominating factors, and the intolerance of human frailty rises with it , that’s when going full scale into avoidant mode becomes the preferred , self protective thing to do.
The disability community has been having these debates for decades, and yes a person who has a disability can choose identity-first or person-first language (it’s their choice). Just leave it up to the person who is disabled.
What frustrates me is when someone who is NOT disabled comes up and says “You are not disabled, you are handicapable/differently-abled” and suddenly says “disabled” is a bad word to use. I mean, disability isn’t a bad thing.
I don’t mind called mentally ill or autistic.
It’s just part of who I am
I use the most derogatory ways of talking about myself sometimes when I am angry.
Usually I use the R word if I am frustrated with something like a social interaction or a way I have behaved.
Many times I have ask for a lobotomy as well.
If I met a social Justice Warrior who likes to be critical just to be cool, my use of language sometimes would put them into a fit.
I don’t do it on purpose - I have always had a very extreme way of explaining things very blunt with no emotion in my face.
It actually makes me chuckle sometimes when I think back to all those people where my sarcasm goes over their heads and they think I am being serious.
Although I get the point of this, as I hate the word psychosis. Why take a group of people that experience a certain thing, and add the word ‘psycho’ in it. To a laymen on mental health this doesn’t help the stigma issue when most articles in mainstream media would have us represented by those who made terrible mistakes in a weak moment - just like a normal person would.
Makes me very cross that does.
I think it depends on the context. I try to use the term condition.
I don’t really like the term ‘consumer’ so much.
I don’t mind being referred to as ‘mentally ill’
I’m literally mentally ill though? Like if we’re not the mentally ill who is?
I don’t even think mentally ill is offensive, its not like calling us crazy, or anything, it doesn’t even have connotations with violence.
We’re just ill, we have an illness.
You bump into those people on Twitter a lot, especially in the autism community. They love to run around and harrass anyone using a label they don’t like. Call yourself an Aspie and you’ll hear about it. Point out that you don’t feel disabled and you’ll also hear about it. I just tell them to arse off and mind their own biz.
I guess I’m going to disagree with about everyone here, but I do believe we shouldn’t use labels that attaches a prescribed name or term to us. And this goes well beyond the scope of mental illness, but it applies, in my view, to just about everything. This is something I feel strongly about partly because my church teaches this principle, that we should not prescribe and label people with a name, because after all, we are a lot more than “schizophrenic” or “straight”. I believe firmly in the terms that are used to define us, that they should be benevolent and of good report, which speaks no evil to us. Instead of being called “mentally ill”, we should be addressed as someone, an actual person, that has a mental illness.
I do think that an insistence on subjectively ‘appropriate descriptors’ that some pursue rather aggressively can do a lot more harm than good . As @MrSquirrel says it happens a lot within the autism community.
I can accept that what might be a ‘disability’ to someone like myself , may not be regarded as a ‘disability’ by someone else . It doesn’t mean I necessarily agree with that person but it’s not something to launch a verbal attack over.
The ‘ASD/SZ etc are the next stage in human evolution’ types are the ones I have less time for. That goes way beyond seeing yourself as ‘non-disabled’ .
Maybe that’s why it’s a SPECTRUM?!? Am I disabled or incapacitated in certain situations? You bet. I can’t do groups or crowds. I’ve tried everything I can think of over the years to make it work, but I can only take limited exposure at best (e.g. photographing a wedding or DJing a reception) and boy oh boy do I pay for it later. I might make it through two days, but an entire semester in school? Nyet, tovarisch. So, yeah, I’ve got limitations. It would be fair to say I suffer from social disabilities.
Other aspects of my Asperger’s allow me to chew up and spit out NTs with ease at work. I’m fairly obviously the most capable member of my own team at my job (manager excepted, she’s amazing). I’m kicking the butts of NTs with 20 years more experience than I have, but I learn faster and organize better than they do.
It balances out. No complaints.
Very much the same here.
Man, you really have to stop asking for a lobotomy.
Hmm?.
Welcome To A Mentally Ill Presentation From The Disabled Patient’s Version Of Music!.
The Orbital Compass!.
A Solo Project From One Man With No Actual Complaint About Any Term Used To Describe His Act.
Although, Truth Be Told, Found Slight Bit Of An Incorrect With Those Terms In The Past. . .
And Narrowed The Terms Down Into:::~ Individuality, Creativity, Hope, Love, Peace, Strength, Patience. Courage, Family, And Love. . .
But!.
None Of That Altogether Really Narrowed The Endlessness Down Any. . .
Be It As It May, , ,
Human Being’s It Is Then. . .
Hope, True Love, Joy, And Peace!.
P.s. For All Underneath Mother Nature’s Weeping Tree. . . . . . .
I refer to my schizophrenia as an affliction. It’s part of who I am, but it doesn’t define me.
It’s a weird one. If someone says her, the mentally ill person, I would not like it whereas if I call myself mentally ill, it is OK.
But now, I’d say I’m susceptible to illness, as opposed to I am ill. Thinking of perhaps coming off meds. I don’t have sz though…!!!
I just don’t think it’s fair to not have a choice.
I am very pro-choice on lobotomies