(no subject)
Mar. 25th, 2019 10:03 amThere's this certain kind of mental illness advocacy that's mostly found on Tumblr that I fucking hate. It's this school of thought whereby mentally ill people aren't responsible for any of their actions because they're Mentally Ill And Just Don't Know Any Better.
For example, it would be okay for a person with BPD to say, gaslight and emotionally abuse their partner, because That's Just How They Are and you can't be angry at them.
(Never mind how this is just repurposing old harmful stereotypes and saying that Actually, This Is Fine Now.)
Or, for example, that someone might say on a Discord server for mentally ill abuse survivors that someone telling you about how their abuser slammed their head into the side of a stone counter for calling their cat a "little shit" should have been more respectful of their rage triggers and how they shouldn't get mad at them or else they're being ableist.
Being an advocate doesn't mean that you get to reinforce harmful stereotypes about mentally ill people and call it activism. Certain disorders might push people to act in certain ways, but people always have control over their actions.
For example, it would be okay for a person with BPD to say, gaslight and emotionally abuse their partner, because That's Just How They Are and you can't be angry at them.
(Never mind how this is just repurposing old harmful stereotypes and saying that Actually, This Is Fine Now.)
Or, for example, that someone might say on a Discord server for mentally ill abuse survivors that someone telling you about how their abuser slammed their head into the side of a stone counter for calling their cat a "little shit" should have been more respectful of their rage triggers and how they shouldn't get mad at them or else they're being ableist.
Being an advocate doesn't mean that you get to reinforce harmful stereotypes about mentally ill people and call it activism. Certain disorders might push people to act in certain ways, but people always have control over their actions.