Note: This is a guest post, written on a very sensitive subject from a personal perspective. I (Robin) hope that it generates a lot of good, meaty, critical discussion, but I also want to make sure that we cultivate a safe space for that discussion. So please be respectful of each other, focus on issues, not people, and keep in mind that this is not an easy subject to discuss, so a little extra patience can go a long way to keeping the discussion on track.
Yesterday I lay on my psychologist’s couch fighting off a migraine and even more tears as I outlined the Kathleen Hale’s horrendous actions as reported in The Guardian article and the varied responses to this appalling situation. I went on to talk about why I was so incredibly upset. Struggling to find the words to describe the mass of feelings choking my breath and bouncing in my head. Trying to articulate why I felt devastated, why I felt lost, why I now felt unsafe in the book community I loved.
Crazy, batshit, nuts, psycho, deranged, mental, crack pot, insane.
Those were just some of the words I told my therapist I had seen in reference to Hale’s behaviour. She asked me what was it about them that hurt me so much.
My response to her was it felt like they were directed at me.
That the words so often used in a derogatory way to describe mental illness felt like a punch to my gut every time I saw them.
I have a mental illness. Actually I have been diagnosed with several types.
My name is Kris and I have Bipolar Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder and General Anxiety Disorder.
In the scheme of things my mental illness is a relatively new thing. Although I have suffered from depression off and on for many years, the events triggering my Bipolar Disorder and with it the myriad of others only occurred three years ago. It is still new to me. And it is something I struggle with daily.
I particularly have difficulties with acceptance, not only acceptance from others, but also acceptance of myself. That I have to live with, to try and manage, my mental illness for the rest of my life is so big. It is like a constant weight on my shoulders.
I feel the stigma greatly. It makes me incredibly sensitive whenever the topic of mental illness is raised.
Crazy, batshit, nuts, psycho, deranged, mental, crack pot, insane.
These are not just words to me.
Ableism is recognised as a form of discrimination towards physical, intellectual and mental disabilities. It reflects a point of view in which able-bodied people are those who are considered to function ‘normally’ in everyday society whereas those with disabilities are ‘abnormal’ and should strive to become more normalised, more like their able-bodied peers. As a result, having a disability becomes a bad thing. Disabilities become marginalised.
Ableist language is words and terms, usually descriptors and fillers, which target individuals with disabilities. Words like ‘spaz’ or ‘retarded’ can be used intentionally or casually in day-to-day speech, but because of their invested meaning/s are problematic and can insult and cause harm to those who have disabilities.
Crazy, batshit, nuts, psycho, deranged, mental, crack pot, insane.
These are not just words to me.
For me, such terms increase the stigma of mental illness.
For me, such terms have triggered some of my own mental health problems to the point I am seriously considering whether I want to remain part of the book community. A community that, despite being one of my few connections to the outside world, has been so full of hate speech and lack of acceptance towards mental illness during the past week it has been devastating to me. I have had to wonder if it is doing me more harm than good. Something I am still thinking about.
Am I advocating censorship? Am I setting myself up as the language police? Am I being too PC? No, I am not.
What I am suggesting, no, fuck it, what I am stating outright is that as a society we seem to have become so desensitised to the meaning of certain words we forget words have power. They have the power to transform and they have the power to harm.
As a community where words are loved and the stories they help tell are cause for so many emotions, I believe we are perfectly placed to talk about ableist language, to consider the terms we may intentionally or inadvertently use, to take a step back and ask ourselves in what other ways we can express ourselves to describe a situation or an action or an individual.
Crazy, batshit, nuts, psycho, deranged, mental, crack pot, insane.
None of us can know if Hale has any mental health issues. More importantly, and regardless if she does have an illness, it does NOT make her behaviour appropriate. Being triggered, does NOT justify her response. Whilst mental illness may give insight in to an individual’s thoughts and actions it certainly does NOT absolve responsibility.
What Hale did was wrong. She was an arsehole. It is as simple as that.
Crazy, batshit, nuts, psycho, deranged, mental, crack pot, insane.
These are not just words to me.
Be mindful. Words have power. Words hurt.
Or maybe you so-called ‘normal’ folk have forgotten that.