let us have a brief chat, tumblr

i’m like twice your age so i know i’m not hip and cool any more, but hear me out

maybe referring to something like “i hope you find help for your mental problems” as “ableism”, i.e. something to be disdained and eradicated, is

REALLY
FUCKED
UP

the message that sends is: your problems aren’t problems at all! they are like happy magical rainbow fairies that follow you around and color your interactions in all kinds of interesting ways!

what the fuck are you thinking

i have ADD, officially the Babiest Mental Illness Imagineable. i take pills for it and everything. like from a doctor, even. so now that we’ve established my credentials, let me clarify where i stand on this:

ableist: oh, eevee, you have ADD? uhh we’d rather not you work on this project with us, then. or at all. you’re fired.
not ableist: oh, eevee, you have ADD? that sucks, i hope you get along alright

see, an -ism generally refers to unfair discrimination against a group

saying that some kind of problem is a fucking problem is not discriminating against jack. if you are depressed, that sucks. if you have (real) OCD, that sucks. if you are a narcissist or borderline or schizophrenic, that sucks. if you have the common goddamn cold, that sucks. this is why we call them “illnesses”: it’s latin for that fucking sucks.

i mean, you do know that mental illness is defined by having a negative impact on daily life, right?

so hey please let’s stop demonizing the idea of getting help. it’ll encourage people to fucking revel in their problems, and surround themselves with others who do the same, and they’ll all just get worse. (but at least they won’t have anyone expressing sympathy, phew!)