World Mental Health Day 2022: A (Short) Guide To Advocacy & Mental Health...

 From our team:

    We already know: Stigma reduction occurs through effective advocacy and as the result of amplification and accuracy:

• Advocacy

• Nothing gets addressed if no one brings attention to it

• Be true to your experiences and your feelings, but base your talking points in irrefutable fact

• If someone attempts to refute your points

•  Do the work: research, point to experts

•  Break down what they provide as ‘evidence’ and address each portion appropriately and factually

• Avoid getting emotional

• Avoid trigger words, insults, and unnecessary use of Caps-Lock.

• Ask those who you trust to assist you, particularly if this is occurring via social media, in addressing the person(s) to add further credence to your points

• Intersectionality (Yes, another one of those charged words) 

• A movement will flounder if it does not embrace diversity of experiences.

•  Stay well-informed, and don’t speak over the voices of those who are marginalized and ostracized…

• Allow for the inclusion of tangential stories and experiences that share the common theme of your topic of advocacy

•  Amplification

• The centering of marginalized voices within a movement, so as to emphasize those struggles beyond just one general perspective.

• Discrimination and ostracization lead to stress. Add multiple demographics, and it becomes exceptionally evident, hence it becomes even more important to not ‘prioritize to a fault.’ To provide an example of a failure to do that: 

By and large the feminist movement and philosophy emphasized nonconformity and solidarity with other key movements, particularly during its 3rd Wave, where advocacy diversified, and a focus on racism became a mainstream aspect.
Fast forward to today, the recent bout of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in a few self-proclaimed “feminist” circles appears to be a revival of 2nd Wave Feminism, perhaps compounded by those groups’ idolization of the Suffragettes, who were notoriously in favor of racial segregation, anti-sodomy laws, and in a few rare cases, a hypothetical revival of slavery. To top that all off, they often resorted to relatively unconnected means of protest, including bombings and attempted assassination. 

The contrast between the two waves couldn’t be any more different, as the later period focused distinctly on establishing community, whereas the prior segment was based on a belief that the only way to stop the bias caused by societal divides … was to widen those divides further. Yeah … accelerationism isn’t as effective as some think. Perhaps this lean towards those divides can be further encapsulated in the belief that oppression and discrimination occur on the basis of one’s nature, rather than how the individual is perceived. Nonetheless, the 2nd Wave prioritized their goals so much that they dismissed, and in some cases even encouraged, problems faced by other demographics, setting themselves at odds with those other movements.  

• All this goes to show that just because there were leaps and bounds doesn’t mean a form of discrimination no longer exists. We may have laws in place, but there always are “workarounds” for those filled with hate.

• Disabled individuals according to several studies (2018-2020) are over twice as likely to be victims of violent crimes as abled individuals. And we mean disability in general, not just physical handicaps. 

• Native Americans, despite whatever legal protections, are at severe risk of violence. The rates have varied from year to year, but according to several charities that rate has been at least twice the general population, with the Department of Justice’s own analysis putting it even higher: with over 80% of those with direct ancestry having experienced violence and abuse.

• African Americans make up only a little over 13% of the population, but comprise over 68% of victims of violent crime, and roughly a third at the hands of authorities.

• As compared to the 15-20% rate of the general population, over 30% of women have gone through violence and abuse. These numbers, in recent years, have jumped up, resulting in 60-70%.

• Those who fall within the LGBTQ+ community have similar rates, at a little over 4 times that of the general population.

• As it stands, even if someone’s perspective is different, it does not mean you should disregard them, unless their suggestion is continued ostracization. Then by all means…

• If you have an opportunity as an organizer, make use of that amplification!

• Center experts, particularly those who’ve gone through hate. It’s important that we highlight their struggles especially, or we fall into the fallacy of [need word here?]

• If your counterargument to that is that those things are no longer an issue (e.g., Racism stopped being a problem after MLK) then you’ve got bigger problems than what you’re choosing to advocate for.

• Now, let’s take a pause here, and address some of the most common things that’ll come up in arguments/debates/conversations. It’s, for me at least, important to keep these things in mind, since going off gut instinct isn’t particularly valid in these situations.

• Mental Illness & Ableism - Not everything is mental illness. If somebody resorts to using diagnostic terminology, just rebuke and block. They’ve drawn their conclusions, wallowed in their ignorance. It’s not worth trying to rationalize towards someone who’s closed off to it all.

• Statistics - Don’t delve too quickly into a conversation unless you’ve got immediate data. Very often, I’ve seen unprepared people attempt to refute points without any proper point of reference, and they are quickly beaten with non-peer-reviewed material that falls apart if you’re prepared. So please, come prepared…

• Accuracy & Delivery

• Do your best not to resort to their tactics. 

• Besides the obvious of you coming across as a hypocrite for referring to someone in the same manner of which you criticized them for, there’s also the fact that you would simply be perpetuating what you’re trying to stop

• As stated before, the data is important to have. That being said, seed your advocacy with emotion and relatability. Sympathy is a big part of establishing that relatability, and as such, it’s important to establish some kind of connection, or otherwise you’ll be left with someone who doesn’t care to pay attention. At our core, we focus on emotional investment, so target that!

• Following that, also put an emphasis on a more positive demeanor, but don’t overplay it. Perhaps one of the more amusing tropes in online discourse is people who respond with some ‘signifier of amusement,’ be it a laughing emoji, or perhaps a simple “lol” in response to whatever statement you make. As such, if you reply in jest, they can easily take that as validating their claims.

• Refrain from talking down to someone, as that can further intensify any hostility, but, if need be, bluntness is always an option.

...to be continued