As someone with a mental illness, this is so stupid it makes me wanna weep blood. If you’re so weak that you crumble into a bundle of neurotic offense at a reminder that you’re crazy, you have bigger problems than someone using certain words.

I hope you also realize that people with mental illnesses (along with basically ALL people) are different from each other and are affected by different things. I’m bipolar, agoraphobic and autistic, and yes, I DO get bothered with some of the words that are used so casually. I’m just naturally a sensitive person (and I know how to deal with that), and a lot of the words remind me of the torment that I went through growing up. I hate hearing my fiance say “retarded” and having flashbacks about being treated as such on a daily basis as a child (when in reality I have a genius IQ but my mind is basically just trapped within itself). But I don’t think that this makes me a terrible or weak person. Everyone has triggers and even just pet peeves. I’m sure there is SOMETHING that people do that grates your nerves.

Newly diagnosed people often that they feared that they were going crazy but were reassured to learn that in fact, they were experiencing symptoms of a disease.

Modern medicine didn’t disprove the existence of craziness. The world is objectively full of craziness. And there are some people who habitually display more than their share of crazy behavior–sometimes in good ways, sometimes not.

Some of crazy behavior is caused by mental illnesses, but it’s not as if the mentally ill account for the bulk of the craziness in the world. Racism causes way more craziness than mental illness, as a glance a the headlines on any given day will confirm. When I say that things are crazy at work, my assessment has nothing to do with mental illness and everything to do with frenetic activity.

I don’t see what’s wrong with calling crazy things “crazy.” Because “crazy” isn’t a euphemism for mental illness or a slur against people who have mental illnesses. It’s a descriptor of thinking or behavior. Some of the behaviors that are associated with mental illness get criticized more (whether as crazy, or dangerous, or disgusting, or whatever) because our society has prejudices against people who are different. If you’re from a disadvantaged group, you’re more likely to be judged harshly for anything you do, regardless of the facts. So, women who assert themselves are apt to be unfairly labeled as “hysterical,” just because they are women. That doesn’t mean that the designation “hysterical” itself is problematic in all cases. It means that prejudices can influence how we judge people.

On a related topic, people seem to be frantic about how autism is growing more common. Autism isn’t the lack thereof of a properly working brain, it’s a restructuring of the brain which differs from the majority. Most are able to operate in this world with comparable skill, thought many require lifelong assistance to varying degrees. But the point is that we’re treating them as disabled when the truth is that they are differently enabled to react to circumstances which differ from the current norm.

Big difference. And I’m not joking.

I’m not going to bother with your questions at the end. Don’t feel like having to explain why hatred is hateful. Sorry.

the idea of intellectual capacity being important and good is an ableist construct itself.

Really? You know, abliesm is a problem, but it is naive to believe that we live in a world where everyone is equal. The fact of the matter is that, even if all of the bullshit baggage our society comes with went away, some people are simply better equipped to do some things than others. A man with no fingers or toes will never be a great pianist, a woman with no legs will never win a gold medal in the forty yard dash, and someone with an IQ of 60 (barring a language barrier or a terrible administrator) will not earn a PhD. Intellectual capacity is important and good. Would your life be the same if you didn’t have the ability to appreciate great literature? What if you didn’t have the capacity to concentrate long enough to think in depth about the world around you? Is there no qualitative difference between not being able to live independently and being able to?