By s.e. smith on 1 June, 2010
The University of California, Berkeley recently released a report discussing the incarceration of youth with mental illness. Mental Health Issues in California’s Juvenile Justice System (.pdf) examines juvenile detention in California and the ways that it is falling woefully short in terms of providing adequate mental health services to incarcerated juveniles. Unsurprisingly, it is getting [...]
Posted in mental health, policy, politics | Tagged juvenile incarceration, prison reform, youth incarceration
By abby jean on 28 May, 2010
Ableist Word Profile is an ongoing FWD/Forward series in which we explore ableism and the way it manifests in language usage. Here’s what this series is about: Examining word origins, the way in which ableism is unconsciously reinforced, the power that language has. Here’s what this series is not about: Telling people which words they [...]
Posted in Ableist Word Profile, blaming, justice, language, mental health, news, policy, politics, representations, shaming, social attitudes | Tagged abby rants
By lauredhel on 24 May, 2010
[*** WARNING for detailed domestic violence description from the fourth paragraph on. ***] My local paper has been abuzz with righteous taxpayer outrage over the State paying for a tattoo removal for a woman, who I’ll call JMN. The story of JMN disrupts a number of neat stereotypical societal narratives about domestic violence, about victimhood, [...]
Posted in domestic violence, justice, mental health, social attitudes
By abby jean on 22 May, 2010
I love looking at pictures of cute animals on the internet. Cats, dogs, monkeys, dolphins, turtles, otters – whatever. And I find that skimming through a few LOLcat macros during the workday can do wonders to perk up my mood or give me a smile before diving back into work. Which is part of why [...]
Posted in activism, For Cereal?, language, media and pop culture, mental health, representations
By s.e. smith on 21 May, 2010
Remember that study about Internet use and depression that we discussed recently? Well, as it turns out, there’s another study out (yay science!) that says basically the exact opposite: information technology, including access to the Internet, has been linked with happiness. Does this mean that science is hopelessly contradictory and we should just ignore the results [...]
Posted in mental health | Tagged accessibility, information technology, internet, Internet use, studies
By abby jean on 20 May, 2010
“….” by mataikan, seen at binary canvas. Ghana News Agency – Mental Health System on the verge of collapse Dr Akwasi Osei, Chief Psychiatrist of the Ghana Health Service, on Monday said the mental health system would soon collapse if the Mental Health Bill was not passed to correct the abuses and injustices in mental [...]
Posted in activism, class issues, disability activism, intersectionality, justice, mental health, policy, politics, poverty
By Guest on 17 May, 2010
Like every ism, ableism is absorbed through the culture on a more subconscious level, embedding itself in our language like a guerrilla force. Crazy is one of the most versatile and frequently used slurs, a
word used sometimes directly against persons with mental disabilities (PWMD), sometimes indirectly against persons with able privilege, sometimes descriptive and value-neutral, and sometimes in a superficially positive light.
Posted in Ableist Word Profile, guest post, language, mental health, social attitudes
By abby jean on 12 May, 2010
People seemed to like the first edition of this series! So here are some more music videos set in psychiatric hospitals! In the last post, all of the videos used the mental hospital setting as a visual demonstration of the depth and intensity of love, depicting institutionalization as a result of loving someone a whole [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, mental health, representations | Tagged music videos
By s.e. smith on 11 May, 2010
I recently came across a Reuters story on a University of Essex study discussing the impact of spending time outside on mental health. ‘Five minutes in the green can boost self esteem,’ the title says. Now, this is actually a study supported by my own anecdata: When I go outside, I do indeed experience a [...]
Posted in accessibility, bad advice, blaming, bodies, mental health, social attitudes
By abby jean on 5 May, 2010
After reading Anna’s recent post on Janelle Monae’s ‘Tightrope’ video and how it “is a great example of how not to completely screw up representation(s) of disability,” I started remembering other music videos set in psychiatric hospitals. And then I started watching all these music videos! One of the earliest I remember is Melissa Etheridge’s [...]
Posted in media and pop culture, mental health, representations, social attitudes, television | Tagged music videos
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