Racism and Forced Diversity (featured. José Schenkkan) — Vol. 2

Written by Andi Bazaar | June 19, 2022

"why self-diagnosis is valid?" — being against self-diagnosis is classist and racist. the tests required for diagnoses are not, only expensive but also typically done multiple times because they don't always reflect the situation accurately.

People in poverty can’t afford extensive testing, they can’t afford diagnoses. So even if someone has the funds to pursue a diagnosis, they may encounter discrimination that keeps them from it.

A quick Google search can provide numerous articles that support these claims, mental illness has multiple factors outside of cost and ethnicity that make diagnoses hard to obtain. Very few mental illnesses can be diagnosed via test, they have to be diagnosed based on symptoms. However, many different disorders share the same symptoms.

Furthermore, doctors don't always listen. It's actually rather difficult to find a doctor who listens to and acknowledges your issues even when we've done our own research, they often dismiss us and our concerns. This applies to both mental and physical Illnesses actually.

“Self-diagnosis is not as harmful as you think, in fact it’s often more reliable than official diagnoses.”

When we talk about self-diagnosis we don't mean when people flippantly say shit like "omg I'm so bipolar," because they're moody.

Most people (including myself) do extensive research to self-diagnose, having a diagnosis helps us handle the illness or disorder.

Having a diagnosis can help us cope, as well as open up new opportunities to bond with others who have the same diagnosis. It can explain so much and give us a better idea of how to proceed and improve our lives.

In conclusion, diagnoses are very difficult to obtain for many reasons including outrageous costs and racism in the medical field. So please, do not shame self-diagnosis.

By the way, this article barely scratches the surface of any of these issues, mind you and racism in healthcare is fatal. Specifically against Black women, do your research and spread awareness. Donate to the funds of people who need treatment and contact your politicians.

stop saying racists need to take their meds or need stronger meds, stop calling racists "crazy," and stop saying racism is a mental illness.

This also goes for people who perpetuate other types of oppression, when you use mental illness to insult racists or people perpetuating another type of oppression you're further stigmatizing mental illness and dragging down disabled people in order to dunk on oppressive assholes. That's not okay, that's ableist!

Not taking your meds or being under-medicated for a psych condition doesn’t magically make someone racist, plenty of unmedicated or under-medicated mentally ill disabled people manage to not spew oppressive bullshit everywhere.

It's similar to people who "get racist when they're drunk," no, they don't! They're always racist, their inhibitions are just lowered while drunk even if someone who is un- or under-medicated is racist etc it's not because of their mental illness.

There are plenty of other ways to insult oppressive people without dragging down another marginalized or systemically-non-dominant group to do it, stop furthering the oppression of disabled people in your social justice work or discussions.

"why no holding oppressive beliefs or ideas or perpetuating oppression does not?" — in fact, mean that someone has psychopathy:

It is an armchair diagnosis because you can not diagnose people with a mental illness who you are not directly treating as their own licensed mental health professional, additionally it’s inaccurate to say that everyone who has harmful or oppressive beliefs or ideas is psychopathic.

Literally everyone perpetuates and upholds oppression in some manner, no exceptions even you or even me. That does not mean every 100% of humans have psychopathy.

People aren't racist or misogynistic or queer or transmisic or ableist because they're mentally ill, these ideas influence and infiltrate every aspect of our society and every system we build. These ideas get passed down or encouraged by a lot of cultural or societal factors.

Someone can be racist and a psychopath, that does not mean racists are psychopaths or that they are racist because they are mentally ill. There are a lot of mentally ill people who are not racist; there are a lot of non-mentally ill people who are racist.

I never said, "people cannot be diagnosed with psychopathy and that we shouldn't call psychopathy that or that other mental illnesses shouldn't be called mental illnesses?"

I said, "people need to stop blaming racism and other oppression on mental illness."

Saying any type of oppression is due to mental illness is simply inaccurate, it allows people to distance themselves from said oppression and avoid recognizing the ways they participate in upholding it or pretend it isn't their problem because it's someone else's fault.

We're all responsible for working to dismantle systemic oppression not just mentally ill people or whoever the next scapegoat is.

During #MentalIllnessAwarenessWeek, I am committed to uplifting the experiences and ongoing legacy of violence and pathologization of "Black Americans," at the hands of the mental health system.

Today, Black patients who present with the same symptoms as their white counterparts are more likely to be diagnosed with Schizophrenia. Black Americans are diagnosed 3-4 times more with psychosis than white Americans.

Before the mid-1960s, Schizophrenia was considered a white illness and had no violent connotations. By the late 1960s, it was reframed as a violent disease mainly affecting Black men especially those connected to the "Civil Rights Movement."

Schizophrenic patients were posed as a threat to society, making it easier to involuntarily commit them to institutions for indefinite period of time.

Black Americans are more likely to be involuntarily committed to psychiatric institutions by the courts, Law enforcement is usually involved in the involuntary commitment process especially in cases where individuals are homeless and or seem “erratic” and “threatening.”

People with mental illnesses are rarely violent but the involvement of law enforcement contributes to the stigma that they are, in reality people with mental illness are 11x more likely to be victims of violence in the general public.

America’s largest mental hospitals are jails*. 64% of incarcerated people have mental health conditions *this does not mean there is any “treatment” happening.*

Black Americans are more likely to be incarcerated as a result of mental illness but less likely to receive treatment in prison, there are 3x more people with serious mental illness in American jails and prisons than there are in hospitals.

Americans with untreated mental illness are also 16x more likely to be shot and killed by police. Black Americans with mental illnesses are at the highest risk for fatal police violence of any group.

REST IN POWER

• Ezell Ford: 25 year old disabled man with bipolar, schizophrenia. (Shot by LAPD in 2014.)
• Tanisha Anderson: 37-year-old mother with bipolar. (Killed by Cleveland police in 2015.)
• David Felix: 24-year-old Haitian immigrant with schizophrenia. (Killed by NYPD in 2015.)
• Anthony Hill: 26-year-old veteran with PTSD, bipolar. (Shot by DeKalb, GA police in 2015.)
• Deborah Danner: 66-year-old activist with schizophrenia. (Shot by NYPD in 2016.)
• Alfred Olango: 38-year-old Ugandan refugee in mental distress. (Killed by CA police in 2016.)
• Pamela Turner: 44-year-old grandmother with schizophrenia. (Shot by TX police in 2019.)
• Osaze Osagie: 29-year-old autistic man with schizophrenia. (Shot by PA police in 2019.)

“is that a delusion, i ask myself, my belief that i am worthy of respect and a normal happy life?” — Deborah Danner, 4 years before her murder.

A Special Thanks To:

• Co-wrote by José Schenkkan
• Journalist/Publishing/Photographed by Clayton Euridicé Schofield
• Analyst by Henrie Louis Friedrich