We’ve made it to Mental Health Awareness Month. Here in Davis, there are a lot of events that the Mental Health Initiative is putting on where you can learn more about mental health and self-care. I personally love that we’re disucssing mental health more, as it is an important issue that has been ignored for a large amount of time. However, even though we are advancing, learning, and understanding, most people are still using the wrong words which are actually insensitive and go against what this whole month is about.
Words such as “crazy,” “insane,” and “psycho” are being used by many people to describe an event/person/situation. When people use phrases such as, “I’m so crazy” or “That game was insane,” they are using ableist language. These choice of words are comparing these situations/events to mental illness and discrediting people who may actually have to deal with mental illness everyday. By using these words to describe outrageous/unbelievable/wild events, we are looking at mental illness as something that is not real, and instead as something that is laughable and that people can easily get over.
Most of us use these words extremely often, myself included. It wasn’t until I learned more about mental illnesses/mental health that I learned the harm they cause. So, now that you know the effect of these words, what can you do? It’s simple: Stop using these words and replace them with their synonyms that have nothing to do with mental health. Your point will still be understood and you don’t have to worry about using ableist and hurtful language.