The power of labels — is it time to move on?

A while ago I posted a meme, which said, “Better to have lost in love than to live with a psycho for the rest of your life.”

I liked it of course, otherwise I wouldn’t have posted it. Eleven others did too, some commenting on Facebook, “Amen to that,” and “Definitely!!”

Then this: “Hate it. It’s beat up on people with mental illness time again. Ever had the amazing person you love tell you that they just can’t deal with your mental illness anymore? Our society is totally phobic about people with mental illness having intimate relationships.”

“Mind your language!”

“Mind your language!”

That was what parents used to tell their kids to warn them not to swear. In the last 20 or 30 years however, some people in the disabled community seem to have taken that saying even more seriously than ever before.

“Disabled”, “handicapped”, “special needs”, “differently abled”, ” handicapable”. All these words and phrases have been used over the years to describe those of us whose physical abilities differ from most people’s. Then there’s the very long-winded “people first” language, as in “person with a disability” or “person with special needs” and so on.

DPSN Team Favourites: My Common is Unique (Anna)

As this year starts and not long after Chinese New Year – the year of the Rooster – I am considering my professional career and where I am going. This blog about My common work life being unique for others is a timely reminder that I know the rhyme and reason I do things the way I need to. Taking my time, or giving my time, or allowing my time is all important ways to manage my own success in life and career. My wish for 2017 – Remember your rhythm, know your own unique pattern and live a full life. – Anna

DPSN Team Favourites: The language of suffering (Sam)

The Language of Suffering was such an interesting blog post – I came across it before I started working for DPSN and I was working in the mental health sector. It stirred enough in me that I decided to comment (something I rarely do! ha!), and it’s still something I’m getting my head around – how do we talk about the hard stuff of mental illness, as well as balancing it with the positives that our unique brains bring us? What I took away from this post was that giving blanket rules about how to talk about Mental Illness isn’t helpful, because all our experiences, and ways of talking about it are – as always – diverse! – Sam