You may know I was diagnosed with autism 10yrs ago. You may not know I was also diagnosed with schizophrenia at the same time. Today is World Schizophrenia
Awareness Day (1). Here in so-called Australia, schizophrenia affects between 150,000-200,000 humans (2).
You might know autism and ADHD/ADD are forms of neurodivergence, but did you
know that schizophrenia social anxiety/anxiety disorders and depression are as well?
Neurodivergence means having a different brain to what is historically, clinically and socially classified as “normal”. (shudder)
Fortunately for the neurospicy like me, the Social Model of Disability is seeing medical definitions rewritten with a healthier focus, changing outdated societal ideologies and expectations.
My form of schizophrenia is visceral (3). When I’m tired, stressed, or anxious, my
symptoms can arise despite daily medications. I see, hear, and feel bugs. Flying, buzzing, crawling insects. Bugs creeping on my scalp and into my skin. It’s usually a speck of dust. Sometimes, it’s actually an insect. An offset of my schizophrenia is a cognitive disability (4) (confused thinking, loss of words, disjointed understanding, and
forgetfulness).
There is too much misinformation on how schizophrenia manifests. Science has not discovered irrefutably what causes it; however, mine was likely brought on by excessive stress and poor health maintenance.
When the word “crazy” is so easily used as a gross negative, it paints schizophrenics as bad people with uncontrollable brains leading to dangerous behaviour. We see this stereotype in the media when individuals enact incomprehensible harm (5). More often, the individual is just a massive angry douche. To be clear: people with schizophrenia are rarely violent, and when they are it is usually self-harm (6).
I’m not prone to hyperbole, but every time I hear someone use the term “crazy”
derogatorily, it HURTS me. It means you consider ME suboptimal.
I know language is difficult to change. Hell, I’m almost 50 & struggle with using “crazy”, particularly directed at myself. We stopped using other harmful words in my lifetime, so we can stop using this one too.
The Art Newspaper leads off with a deep dive into the vibrancy of the Palestinian art scene in Gaza - “people in the community really responded to what these artists were doing in places like Shababeek & Eltiqa, which unfortunately have now been destroyed.”