Schizophrenia: Stigma and Discrimination

I like to read over all the articles I write for my blogs. When I read over the entries I've written about schizophrenia and mental illness I've noticed that I have a main theme running through them all. I also read over comments I've made on other writers' blogs. I've also noticed this same theme running through these writings.

What is that theme? Stigma and discrimination.

Webster's English Dictionary states that the word stigmatize means "Disgrace." The same dictionary states that the word discriminate means "having the difference marked."

Applying these meanings to the way society views mental health consumers they have negative connotations. Society views us as a disgrace to humanity as a whole. We are also a marked group of people. We are marked as violent, unproductive members of society, useless, lazy, weak minded people, crazy, insane, not normal by societies standards, and the list can go on and on.

Many years ago mental health consumers were marked as servants of the devil, possessed by demons and spirits. As a result of this many consumers were put to death by the so called servants of Christ.

Later on when they started Asylums they were treated like animals in these places. Peoples pets lived like kings and were treated with more love and compassion than those in these institutions. At one point in history people paid to get into these places to watch the patients to ridicule, and laugh at for their own personal entertainment.

Then in the twentieth century those Doctors that treated the mentally ill in mental institutions discovered anti-psychotic medications. Consumers had some reprieve but still suffered tremendously. The way consumers were treated greatly improved but still not up to standards of the United Nations and our own Canadian Charter of Rights.

I must truly confess that we are treated a lot better than we were back in history. But despite that we are still treated like outcasts of society. We are still stigmatized and discriminated against. According to the Canadian Charter of Rights we have rights and not to be discriminated against. That looks good on paper and is just a big joke. In reality we are not accepted by society, we have trouble getting employment, we find it hard to get decent housing, and society as a whole will not have anything to do with those that have a mental illness.

As a result of the way mental illness affects a person many consumers are not able to work and hold down a job. The government supplies social assistance but that is also a big joke. Most consumers live in poverty. They live in housing that's not suitable for animals to live in. They go hungry the majority of the time. What food they do manage to purchase brings no health to their bodies. They have a lot of medical problems caused by their low standard of living.

The consumers that do manage to acquire social assistance live like kings compared to the consumers that have to live on the streets. I don't know exact statistics but it is common knowledge that the majority of people that live on the streets have some form of mental illness.

They don't have access to a decent bed to sleep in, they have no access to medical care for both their mental illness and other medical problems. They probably eat less than those fortunate enough to acquire social assistance.

Those consumers that are fortunate enough to recover well by that I mean those whose symptoms have been greatly reduced, and receive good psycho-social treatments. As a result they are able to be independent, have their own place, manage their money, cook their meals, keep up on house work, able to get an education, able to work at a full time job, and do all the things that the so called normal people are able to do.

Even this fortunate group of consumers are still stigmatized and discriminated against just as much as those not so fortunate group of consumers.

Those of us who are mental health consumers need to rise up and fight for our rights as Canadian Citizens. We need to stamp out the stigma and discrimination against us. We should have the same rights and opportunities as the rest of society. We should have access to decent housing, be able to find half-decent jobs, be able to get an education, and last of all we should be accepted by society and be able to partake in societal activities as one of them and not as outcasts.We need to be a part of the community not rejected by the community.

We consumers need to get together, get organized, and become activists, and start advocating for our rights as Canadian Citizens.

Schizophrenia and the Media

On the Zfarside of Life and Other Thoughts blog there is an entry on stigma and discrimination against the mentally ill caused by the way the media presents mental illness in their TV broadcasts. There is a three way conversation on the comments section of that entry.

One of the points I made was how can we get the media to present the true facts about mental illness instead of presenting it as an evil disease that lies behind violent crimes?

How are we going to permanently stamp out that stigma and discrimination against the mentally ill?

I have one answer to this previous question. The newly established "Canadian Mental Health Commission". I have just finished reading their official web site. If the Commission is successful at achieving their goals the plight of the mentally ill will make a radical change.

There is more hope waiting in the wings. There will be better service delivery. The Commission is going to carry out a massive anti-stigma campaign. The Commission will help improve research on mental illness.

The Schizophrenia Society of Canada's national emblem is the Iris Flower. This flower represents "Faith, Hope, and Courage". I personally feel that the newly established Commission will make "Faith, Hope, and Courage" a reality and make a major turn around in the plight of the mentally ill.

We've been waiting a very long time for the Government to do something to change the lives of those affected by mental illness, both consumers themselves, family members of consumers, and other people in society that are affected by mental illness.

I just can't put into words the feelings that are flowing through through my veins right now.

A final word. Let "Faith, Hope, and Courage" flow through your entire being because things are going to start happening that we never dreamed possible.