A current affair - Stigma Exemplified

Hey there @Ziggy I haven't yet watched that story yet, but I can hear how frustrating and disappointing it is to have mental health stigmas perpetuated on national television. I've recently heard some pretty discriminatory things on the radio too, and I could relate to rage you feel. I'm so sorry this happened, and at the same time, thank you for advocating and sharing this with us.

If you are interested, feel free to report it to StigmaWatch so that action can be taken. I'll be looking into this story soon too.

Hearing you @Ziggy

thanks for speaking out … about media and stigma … generally and on this thread

I can’t watch much mainstream media these days for the idiotic hyped things they portray and present

I went to a Q&A audience event with a group a couple years back, even the ABC ain’t wot it used to be

Just watched it. Here's the segment, if anyone else is interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB6PeQnO9No

Ratings bait. I mean a story about a tripple homicide caused by mental illness... that's gonna resonate with the audience. People will remember that and be talking about it around the watercooler tomorrow.

But a story about regular mentally ill people? Sitting around in polite misery, without flying off the handle? Who's gonna pay any real attention to that? Who's gonna remember it? It lacks the gravitas to really grab the audience's attention.

Not to mention that the average audience probably can't relate very well to a suffering mentally ill interviewee. Their too differant, too alien to the average viewer. But a "normal" person who happens to be a survivor of a violent massacre? Viewers can relate to someone like that. The average viewer can look at a woman like that and say: "My god! That could happen to me!"

I'm not voicing support or approval for this sort of media coverage, I'm simply saying that there's a reason for it; it's not just some fluke born out of carelessness or ignorance. ACA has been around a long time and it's team knows how to put together a story that's gonna attract viewers, which is what it's ultimate goal is.

IMHO, the problem isn't that the media puts together stories that demonize the mentally ill community; the media is just giving the people what they want. So the real problem is that we live in a society that doesn't want to help the mentally ill - it wants to contain us, so that we never infringe (violently, or otherwise) on their otherwise perfect little lives, and otherwise orderly little society.

A story that addresses the anguish of a well-behaved mentally ill or suicidal person? Nobody's ever gonna watch that. We're too alien for them to relate to.

This is all well and good but we as representatives of SANE Australia can not condone this type of story through our shared silence.
What’s happened to the advocacy within SANE Australia that none are enraged to respond in the media regardless of ACA’s agenda. Yes this report was set to demonise the mentally ill. Obviously the story is set to gain viewers / ratings but it is unacceptable.
it is not our place not to merely watch, accept and feel alienated.
We can’t accept that any of this is okay because it is not.
This type of report benefits no one.
If no one speaks out then no one can ever hear.
I am disappointed with your response.

As a member of the ‘SANE speakers program’ since its inception in 1999 I offer my voice to publicly express my disappointment with ACA’s article and how it has impacted me.
Acceptance without judgment. ✌🏼

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@Ziggy wrote:

If no one speaks out then no one can ever hear.
I am disappointed with your response.

Sorry. I don't mean to disappoint. Guess I'm just feeling a little tired about now. I have been speaking out - quite a lot recently, in fact. And it feels like nobody's really been listening. At least, not beyond the point required to offer lip-service responses. The actual action that we call for never seems to manifest.

The dance gets tiresome.

And while all our speaking out may seem to have the occasional impact on the media (perhaps not entirely for the better), I'm still yet to see it having any recognizable impact on the attitudes of the regular people we encounter day-to-day. Media coverage may be changing, but I don't think community attitudes are.

Forgive me if I sound defeatist. I'm just tired.

You do sound defeatist and tired.

You also seem to be on the verge of ‘giving up. To say that ‘speaking out’ is not “…having any recognizable impact on the attitudes of the regular people we encounter day-to-day. Media coverage may be changing, but I don't think community attitudes are” is worrisome from a senior contributor and advocate.

The media coverage I have mentioned is a change for the worst if it is a change at all.

Community attitudes only change through continuing positive representation from the likes of us.

To say “We're too alien for them to relate to” is unfair and unreasonable.

I have NOT been encountering stigma in the over 30 years of initiating open discussion about mental health through just being myself.

Whether it be in the public arena, in the media or at a mates BBQ I just quietly speak my truth.

I have ALWAYS sought to advocate and represent (on behalf of those with a severe mental health diagnoses who can't speak for themselves or who choose not to for fear of the marginalisation) Please help me to get my voice back into the public arena.
I repeat I have been a member of the SANE speakers program since it began in 1999.

I have personally given talks at schools, in the media on Peter Couchman, at launching of SANE ‘fact guides’. I’m an interviewee on a DVD within the current Mental Health First Aid Course where I speak about ‘what works’ when talking with someone who is in psychosis. The Age sought my opinion on the release of the film ‘A beautiful mind’

I have tirelessly done advocacy work including hiring out movie theatres to fundraise and create awareness, sponsored bushwalks, kayaking the Murray Marathon with SANE signage to initiate open, honest discussion.

I refuse to accept your defeatism.

Why don't you offer to support my fresh voice and enthusiasm to speak on the topic...?

I won’t accept stigma as ‘the norm’ …Please let’s work together for positive change.