CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES
Source: U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
We
Must Speak Out!
The purpose of this section is to
provide you with some tools to help you promote fair, accurate, and balanced
portrayals of mental illness in the media. Your voice does make a difference.
Whether you handwrite it, type
it, dictate it, or e-mail it, it’s your passion and knowledge that persuade,
that get your letters read (and published), and that change hearts and minds.
SEVEN STEPS TO WRITING AN EFFECTIVE LETTER OF COMPLAINT
1. OPEN WITH YOUR PURPOSE AND EXPRESS YOUR FEELINGS
The purpose of this letter is...
· to let you know...
· to suggest...
· to express my disappointment with...
· to protest...
· to condemn...
2. DOCUMENT THE SOURCE OF
YOUR COMPLAINT
· your editorial...
· your article...
· your television program...
· your film...
...that appeared on (date) under the title of (name of the editorial, article, program, or film)
3. SAY WHO YOU ARE
· As a reader, viewer/fan who has a psychiatric disability...
· As the family member of a wonderful young woman who has a...
· As the administrator of a program for persons who...
4. SAY WHAT UPSET YOU AND
THE HARM IT DOES
I can tell you that...
· your joke made me cry from pain and anger...
· your headline made my blood boil...
· you are misleading the public about...
5. ADD SOME INFORMATION
ABOUT PSYCHIATRIC DISABILITIES
I can also tell you that...
· negative stereotypes profoundly affect attitudes towards persons with mental illness. A 1990 study found that two out of three people surveyed get their information about mental illness from the media --- not doctors or other professionals.
6. SAY WHAT YOU WANT DONE
I implore you to stop...
· the slurs and jokes...
· the sensational headlines...
· the exploitation...
You can address any harm done by accurately reporting...
7. EDUCATE!
I enclose...
· educational material about...
· information about our program...
· an article about...
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF ACTUAL LETTERS, WRITTEN BY REAL-LIFE PEOPLE
HERE IS A LETTER TO A
NEWSPAPER CONCERNING AN OFFENSIVE CARTOON
Regarding the cartoon on your editorial page yesterday, the use of the words “paranoid schizophrenic” and the man in the straitjacket are very offensive. Apparently the person who authored this cartoon knows nothing about mental illness. Paranoid schizophrenia is a very serious mental illness, and it is nothing to make jokes about.
The media is guilty of using this term indiscriminately. One in four families is affected by a mental illness. None of us has to look very far to know someone who has been touched by this disease.
I hope the people who are guilty of using these terms will educate themselves.
HERE IS A LETTER TO A
TELEVISION NETWORK ABOUT A STIGMATIZING EPISODE OF A SITUATION COMEDY SHOW
I am writing to express my deep disappointment that your network plans to rebroadcast an episode of the Drew Carey Show (August 20, 1997) that many of us in the mental health and vocational rehabilitation community find highly objectionable. This episode reinforces the widespread perception that persons with mental illness are dangerous, that employing people with a history of mental illness or being friendly with people with a history of mental illness is likely to end in violence, and that people with mental illness are to be kept away from the rest of society as much as possible. Having made the mistake twice now, the show simply chooses to ignore the criticism, rebroadcasts the offending episodes, and moves forward.
HERE IS A LETTER TO A
NEWSPAPER ABOUT AN OFFENSIVE OBITUARY.
Your Oct. 7 obituary of Margaret Mary Ray does a great disservice to Ray and to the millions of other people with mental illnesses. Focusing on Ray’s unusual behaviors, it encourages the public to think of those with mental illnesses more as a bundle of frightening symptoms than as complex human beings, like others, with background and roots and even accomplishments unrelated to her mental illness.
In Ray’s obituary, readers learn of her stalking of David Letterman, her imprisonment, and her institutionalization --- circumstances that are appropriately reported as part of the history that brought her to public attention. In contrast to the more traditional obituaries, however --- such as the one just below hers --- no information about other aspects of her life is given. The other obituary tells of the deceased woman’s occupation and education. No information about education and occupation is provided for Margaret Mary Ray. The other obituary names a home town and tells a little about the woman’s early life. No such information is provided for Ray. Readers are told of survivors who will mourn the other woman’s passing. Ray’s obituary ends only with a retelling of a joke about her from the Letterman show.
Just because someone’s mental illness has led her to jail, hospitalization and finally suicide does not mean that she should be treated as less fully human than others. Margaret Mary Ray --- as all those who have psychiatric disorders --- deserves recognition of a life and an identity beyond mental illness.
HERE IS A “GENERAL PURPOSE”
EDUCATIONAL LETTER TO A NEWSPAPER
In the past 2 ½ years, two sons and a daughter of three of my friends have died from the same type of illness that afflicts my son. Two of these people committed suicide. The other was psychotic and thought he could swim across Budd Inlet. He made it less than halfway.
The oldest of these three young people was 30. All had serious mental illness. Can you imagine how I feel when mental illness is mocked or trivialized?
The current ad campaign for Denny’s Grand Slam Breakfast is a prime example of trivializing serious mental illness. Every time I hear or see the ad, it churns my stomach and makes me want to cry. Saying, “You must be out of your mind,” says, in essence, “You must be out of touch with reality.” Being out of touch with reality means being in psychosis. People who suffer from psychosis suffer. And people who love people who suffer from psychoses also suffer.
The “Happy Meal” boxes currently at McDonald’s are another example. They feature “Animaniacs,” which, I understand, is a Warner Bros. Saturday morning cartoon starring Wakko and Yakko. I’m sure it is not the intention of McDonald’s or Warner Bros. That, the next time my son has a relapse of his illness, his niece and nephews should laugh at him instead of worrying about him. That is certainly not their intention, but it could well be the result.
I know there’s a lot of talk now about “political correctness” and I know that people are about fed up with it. I’m not talking about political correctness. I’m talking about compassion and consideration for people in deep pain. As painful as psychoses can be, I’ve heard more than one person with serious mental illness say that the stigma is worse than the illness.
Please, these illnesses can strike in any family. They generally hit people in their late teens or early twenties --- just as a person is about to fulfill his dreams.
Please teach your children compassion for people with serious illness and join me in letting advertisers know that any attempt to sell products at the expense of other people’s pain is no longer funny.
DELIVERING YOUR MESSAGE
CONTACTING THE NATIONAL MEDIA
This section contains lists to simplify locating addresses for the major national media. Because of rapid changes in the media industry, it’s a good idea to double check any personal names before using them.
A media list of your own is perhaps the best way to have frequently needed contact information at your fingertips. You will see it develop gradually as you write letters or E-mail your views to the media.
NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS
The most likely reason for getting in touch with a national newspaper is to respond to an article or column --- typically, with a letter to the editor intended for publication. Letters to the editor are sent to the address listed on the editorial page. But lots of letters don’t get published because of limited space. If you can, send copies of your letter to the reporter, columnist, or critic who wrote the article, and also to the executive editor of the paper who will forward it down the line. You may also send copies of letters to the appropriate section editor --- news, editorial, arts and entertainment, health and science, lifestyle, business, or magazine section. Even if your letter is not published, it will deliver its message to important people. A call to the newspaper is the easiest way to get the names and numbers of the editors and critics.
NATIONAL MAGAZINES
Most magazines give contact information in their Letters to the Editor section. They also list their E-mail and Web sites.
NATIONAL BROADCAST MEDIA: TV, CABLE, RADIO
The addresses and phone numbers of major broadcasters are listed in this section. Address letters to President, or call the main operator for the chief executive’s name. If you wish to write to the program’s producer, his or her name will appear in the broadcast credits. For the phone number of a particular national program, call the national broadcaster’s main operator. Another way to get contact information is from a local affiliate of the national broadcaster. If none of these options work, call your library and see if they give reference information over the phone. If you go to the library, a media directory such as the Gale Directory of Publications and Broadcast Media would be the place to look. Lastly, there may be a Viewer Comment option on the national broadcaster’s Web site.
CONTACTING THE LOCAL MEDIA
The place to start, when looking for contact information for a local media organization, is probably the newspaper or broadcast itself. All of your comments, in praise or in protest, will interest the journalist who covered the story.
If you read it in the newspaper, take down the name of the reporter who wrote the story. If you’d like to speak with him or her, look for the newspaper’s telephone number --- it’s on the editorial page or near the beginning of the newspaper --- and ask the operator to connect you. Try not to call after 4:00 P.M., as that’s when reporters are feeling the most pressure to finish their stories. If you’d like to write a letter to the editor, ask the operator for the name of the Editorial Page editor (and, if you wish, the fax number). It’s always a good idea to address this editor --- like all editors --- by name.
If you have something to say about a headline, news story, or feature article, send a copy of your letter to the executive editor. To comment on an advertisement, write to the publisher. Their names are listed on the masthead in the editorial section of the paper.
For more information on Mental Illnesses contact:
Alliance for the Mentally Ill
NAMI of Greater Chicago
1536 W. Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
312-563-0445
Fax: 312-563-0467