Using insults that are offensive to people with mental health issues

[memoo]

I suffer with mental illness and have done on and off for a number of years, so maybe I'm over thinking, but I am genuinely interested in people?s opinions.

I have been giving this a lot of thought and I was wondering why people find it acceptable to use terms such a nutter, psycho, mental etc as insults?

Years ago some people thought it was acceptable to abbreviate the names of physical disabilities, such a cerebral palsy, in a derogatory way and use them as insults.

Thankfully most people now know how wrong this is and how hurtful and demeaning it to people with these disabilities.

Most of us would be disgusted to hear somebody use such an insult, yet few of us bat an eyelid when insults are used that are offensive to the mentally ill.

Some people have to live with devastating mental illness their whole lives. Mental illness can be as debilitating as any physical condition; it can destroy families, rob children of a parent and cause the breakdown of many a relationship. In extreme cases it can lead to criminality, drug addiction and life threatening behaviours.

So, am I being unreasonable to suggest it?s time to stop using insults that are offensive to people with mental health issues? Does using them turn mentally ill people into a source of mockery and ridicule based on ignorance?

I'm sorry it offends you, OP, but I think a line has to be drawn somewhere with the whole 'words that can't be used' issue. We can't just start banning words left, right and centre.

No one is saying words need to be banded. People just want a bit of thought and consideration.

GeraldineAubergine I am comfortable with being described as an ?Aspie? (although many of my friends are cautious about using that term) because I do not perceive Asperger?s Syndrome negatively. I do not respond well to 'freak' or 'weirdo'.

Phipps says what I mean very well

I don't think that any person has a right to tell any other person what they can and cannot say. Everyone can get offended by something, but in a free society you just have to accept that other people may not be sensitive about the same words/issues as you and leave them to get on with it.

If you don't like what they say, it is your right to say why and possibly they will agree that you have a valid point and change their behaviour, but it is equally their right to tell you to moderate your own speech but to leave them to make their own choices as to what they deem to be acceptable.

You can find offense everywhere if you want to, or you can choose to look at intent. Someone saying, "She's a loon!" while sneering at someone is just as offensive as someone saying, "She is exhibiting behaviour outside of social norms!" with the same facial expression. Similarly, someone saying, "You nutcase," with an affectionate laugh is no different for me to someone saying, "You monkey," or whatever.

If people are making jokes, and I find them funny, I'll laugh at them. And I find a lot of things funny because if I didn't I'd find them bloody awful. Dementia, depression, schizophrenia, OCD and other mental illnessness have had their places in my past and my family's past, and it doesn't bother me when people make jokes about that stuff. If someone was actually laughing at me or a member of my family, sure. But joking about the insanity of, well, the insanity itself doesn't bother me.

I also think it's like this - you take the piss out of someone doing something like, for example, forgetting their child's name for a second. You might say, "You moron!" in an affectionate manner. You wouldn't make the same joke to someone with dementia. But not because it would be offensive [although that's obviously for most people why they think they wouldn't] but because it wouldn't be funny. It's normal for them. Humour is about the unexpected. In the same way that it is funny if a grown adult with no illnesses, disabilities or so on suddenly trips over their own feet and takes a spill, it's not amusing when a baby that's trying to walk does it, because that's expected.

But I do wonder why its wrong to do it with words that come from physical conditions but not mental ones.

Nobody would call somebody a "spaz" or a "Mong" because they are vile and highly offensive to people with CP and DS.

So why is it different for words that come from mental illness ie "psycho" OR "Mental"

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just really want to understand why.

psychomum5?

To the OP.

Thats the whole point it's meant to be offensive it's an insult if it wasn't offensive there would be no point using it.

And lets face it, no matter how much the nanny stats wants us to accept all people as equal we all known that people with physical or mental disorders are less likely to get a job, less likely to get decent pay and less likely to actually have a decent job in the first place and get promoted.

Thus it's a perfectly valid insult to throw at someone who isn't disabled, no matter how many laws the government put in place you will never change simple human prejudiced, I honestly think it's a part of our nature.