View Single Post
  #3   [ ]
Old 05-12-2008, 05:16 AM
Project 2501 Project 2501 is offline
Zora Warrior
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: In the network
View Posts: 365
Re: Discrimination against Mental Illnesses

Why are you going around telling people you have a mental illness? Of course that's going to make them wary of you. If I were you I wouldn't mention that anymore, regardless of its truth content.

That said, you have to keep one thing in mind; human beings are animals. We form social hierarchies predicated on each member's perceived likelihood of survival and reproduction, and anything which gives the appearance of being a threat to this system is marginalized as much as possible. Those with mental disorders are prominent candidates for being labeled with a "threat" descriptor because of the increased incidence of crimes associated with them, and people will frequently assume, regardless of the evidence, that all mental disorders lead to dangerous behavior just because some do, in the same way that the DEA tries to claim that pot is chemically addictive by citing the effects of completely different drugs (though thankfully, people have started to call them on their bull**** in that regard).

As far as being regarded as something other than a normal human being, those with mental disorders are NOT normal. This has nothing to do with them being human, but again, "not normal" is often conflated with "dangerous" by the majority of society (which, if the proliferation of American Idol hasn't clued you in, is composed of knee-jerk reactionary idiots). There's also a marked difference between simple depression and more invasive conditions such as OCD or schizophrenia; I doubt that anyone has ever been persecuted for feeling blue.
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Illyria
I play this game. It is pointless, and annoys me. Yet I am compelled to keep playing.
Reply With Quote