These binds help us to face the usual challenges of life, but they are even more important in times of anxiety or despair. Our neighbourhoods, community organisations and clubs, and faith communities can be places of acceptance care and healing, rather than places of rejection, judgment or stigma.
The stigma associated with mental ill-health can be as debilitating as the symptoms of the illness. Negative stereotypes lead to people being avoided, excluded or dismissed. People with mental ill-health can be seen as incompetent and denied opportunities. Stigma undermines self-esteem, the treatment of ill-health, and the process of recovery. We need to reject the stigmatisation of mental ill-health, to challenge negative stereotypes and to eliminate discrimination.
The statement says, “our society tends to draw away from, or to push away, those who confront us with our frailties and limitations”. It encourages another way of responding, inviting us to accept that we all have frailties and limitations, and to embrace “those who are sick or who have disabilities, those who are marginalised or despised”. People living with mental ill-health are part of “us” and are not some “other” people. It is not a matter of “us” and “them”. We all want to share in the fullness of life and live life to the full.
You are invited to attend the annual Social Justice Art Exhibition - now online.
DATE: Saturday, 17 July