Transcript

BBC Radio Ulster Recording

Thought for the day

- Stigma -

(Introduction - And it's time now for a Thought for the Day, coming this morning from Elaine Fogarty)

Have you ever seen someone hold their index finger to their tilted head, and twiddle it around as they roll their eyes and drop their tongue in vacant expression? Have you ever really considered the extent of what they're not saying? In my life, because of personal mental health issues, I've sadly felt the sting of many thoughtless words and gestures. Some were directed at me, and some were not, but they hurt nonetheless.

Gestures can be just as bad as the spoken word; perhaps, even worse. One day as I queued in a shop to pay for fuel, I saw two teenage boys exchange this silent gesture as they glanced with sniggers towards a man who I knew to have mental ill health issues. He didn't see it. I did. And my heart sank as I realised that no matter how hard I try to encourage discussion and understanding about the reality of mental illness, there would always be gestures and looks, and digs of the elbow, and stifled laughter at the silent exchange of denigration.

I silently acknowledged that most of the time people were not even fully aware of the pain they were inflicting. I wondered for a moment just how many times over the years I have been the object of such behaviour myself; I wondered for a moment how others have felt as they witnessed it; I wondered had the levels of social understanding and tolerance changed at all.

I made no direct challenge from my position across the shop floor that day. I just paid for my fuel, and left feeling sad and impotent - really sad. I guess the truth is people will always be afraid of things they do not understand and, unfortunately, one in four of us in the UK are deeply misunderstood because of our mental illness.

I'm not angry, I'm disappointed… that stigma still has such a strong hold in our community. That day I looked directly into the face of stigma, and I was reminded of the challenge that lies ahead. I pray for a society where there is a parity of understanding with physical illness, and where stigma is more widely challenged. I just can't feel comfortable in a world that endorses this kind of behaviour… this kind of judgement. It's not harmless. It's not a laugh. It's just not acceptable.

(Closing - That was a thought for the day from Elaine Fogarty.)

Transcript of an orginal BBC Radio Ulster Recording - Please respect copyright