Notes mental illness and disability

--

(the use of the word disability is in the consensus sense. I'm not ranting about how no one is disabled and it's the construct of society at the time which is where the disability exists. We're all equal and capable, etc, etc, etc.).

--

A person who's a thalidomide baby would be undoubtably be considered disabled if they lived to adulthood. These children were born with missing limbs and internal deformities after their mothers were prescribed thalidomide. Earlier this year the UK government apologised for licensing the drug. (http://www.thalidomideuk.com)

It is a clear physical illness. The detriment is physical. Even a Daily Mail reader can understand that the loss of limbs reduces a person's capability and causes suffering.

Many may not see mental illnesses as disabilities. Few would understand why schizophrenia is considered a serious disability. I'm not sure how many members of the unaware (mental health or social model of disability) accept mental illness as a disability.

Caelic's disease which is a gluten allergy is also conisdered a disability.

There is a hierachy of disability and "hierachy of disability" is an established term.

When considering the impact of the disability it is easy to see how Helen Keller is disabled. People may not be able to see that John Nash or Sylvia Platt's state of mind may be of a a comparable level of disability. Chronic severe depression and other severe illnesses make people want to kill themselves. This happens far less often that with cancer.

The the internal experiences which make severe mental illness just like any other disability are unseen. A person can suffer inside and not show on the outside, just like a person can cover their self-harm scars with clothing. The intense experiences that happen during periods of isolation are like a suffering that words have yet to be made for. For many it is an experience that can only be understood by going through it.

The mentally ill and malingers are the government's target for moving people off sickness benefit. I feel this decision would polarise people: those who understand and agree with the social model of disability and those who don't really understand how mental illness affects an individual's life.

In general people have sympathy for cancer patients, Thalidomide babies and people in wheelchairs. Few have sympathy for the lonely man sitting in the corner talking to himself. Few understand the internal torture. Fewer have compassion. The lack of compassion for severe mental illness is part of the disability. Even the medical profession give lower quality treatment to patients with a diagnosis of severe mental illness (a result from a review (or meta-analysis) published in the last year or so in the British Journal of Psychiatry).

I heard about a psychiatrist who'd tell carers of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia that they'd have been better off if they had cancer. I thought that was a riduclous thing to say and I thought it was another example of stupid psychiatrists. As I think about the hierachy of disability, the difference between physical and mental illness, stigma and the effects of the absence of compassion/understanding and the idea of disability I consider that he may have been correct.

The social detriment, disadvantage, exclusion. The broken dreams. Severe mental and physical illness share this.