@Asda spine-chilling unawareness is no ‘real’ surprise. #mentalhealth #whatstigma #ukmh

Asda’s spine-chilling unawareness of how people who have encountered mental ill-health would react upon seeing themselves portrayed in a freaky Halloween costume with the phrase “Everyone will be running away from you…”, is hardly that surprising, surely?  Is anyone honestly ‘that’ surprised that this visual representation of the mentally ill is alive and kicking, despite years of anti-stigma campaigning by those affected, carers and the Time To Change campaigns? I caught up on this ‘saga’ this morning, I’ve been ill, not ‘mentally’, just a regular tummy bug, like the viruses everyone gets, and everyone recovers from…… a bit like depression, or anxiety or bi-polar, we get ill, and then we recover and life goes on, EXCEPT no-one ever made a ‘Tummy Bug’ costume which when you think of it, a diarrhoea and vomiting virus is something ‘most’ people would actually want to run away from, because it’s horrible, it makes you very ill and it is actually contagious! Going back to my question, was I surprised? No! Disheartened, outraged..yeah, but never surprised.  A few years ago my son, then in his early teens, bought a Psycho costume for Halloween.  He isn’t a cruel person, nor was he setting out to harm the mentally ill, he lived with me, he knew all there was to know about my illness and was, (is), a kind, empathic and decent young man.  When he purchased the outfit...
Source: Dawn Willis sharing the News and Views of the Mentally Wealthy - Category: Mental Illness Authors: Tags: Mental Health, The News & Policies. anxiety asda bipolar depression discrimination Psycho whatstigma Source Type: blogs