NOTICIA 9 Gisela Boada Figueredo

“DIFERENTS, NO ESPECIALS”

SCIENTIFIC SCOPE

This time I have decided to talk about an article written by a mentally ill (Oscar Pujol Escanero) who sent a letter to the director of La Vanguardia in order to talk about how does he see discrimination againts people like him.
DATE  May of 2017
It's a psicologhy or social new

This is the link where I’ve found it http://www.lavanguardia.com/participacion/cartas/20121210/54356230097/diferents-no-especials.html

SUMMARY

This letter wants to emphasize how is suffer from mental illness and, consequently, how society see it. Oscar Pujol, through his writing, wants to show people that suffering from mental illness is not synonymous of being inferior. But, and the same time, it doesn’t mean that they are special, only that they are different. That’s not good or bad. That’s all.

COMMENTARY

This letter written by Oscar Pujol Escanero to the director of La vanguardia, wants to make a special mention to all those people (who are still very much) who continue to think that people with mental illness are people who have to live in isolation and with whom they can not live together.

Discrimination against this part of society is due to the lack of knowledge about the subject, which leads to the creation of socially accepted prototypes (and usually far from the truth) that finally end in discrimination.

For example, if a person who is not diagnosed with mental illness assaults someone, it is said that he has only gone through why he has lost his nerves. If the subject is a mentally ill, the act of violence is attributed to the disease.

As a consequence, negative characteristics are attributed to mentally ill people as violent, aggressive, dangerous or liars.

In a society that is moving towards progress, it is still troubling that we continue to label  and stigmatizing people this way.

VOCABULARY

Stigmatize: o set some mark of disgrace or infamy upon

Mental illness: Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion or behavior (or a combination of these). Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities.