We Must Speak Out!

The purpose of this section is to provide you with some tools to help you promote fair, accurate, and balanced portrayals of mental illness in the media. Your voice does make a difference. Whether you handwrite it, type it, dictate it, or e-mail it, it's your passion and knowledge that persuade, that get your letters read (and published), and that change hearts and minds. Seven Steps to Writing an Effective Letter of Complaint 1. Open with your purpose and express your feelings The purpose of this letter is... o to let you know... o to suggest... o to let you know... o to express my disappointment with... o to protest... o to condemn... 2. Document the source of your complaint o your editorial... o your article... o your television program... o your film... ...that appeared on (date) under the title of (name of the editorial, article, program, or film) 3. Say who you are o As a reader, viewer/fan who has a psychiatric disability... o As the family member of a wonderful young woman who has a... o As the administrator of a program for persons who... 4. Say what upset you and the harm it does I can tell you that... o your joke made me cry from pain and anger... o your headline made my blood boil... o you are misleading the public about... 5. Add some information and psychiatric disabilities I can also tell you that... o negative stereotypes profoundly affect attitudes towards persons with mental illness. A 1990 study found that two out of three people surveyed get their information about mental illness from the media -- not doctors or other professionals. You can address any harm done by accurately reporting... 6. Say what you want done I implore you to stop... o the slurs and jokes... o the sensational headlines... o the exploitation... You can address any harm done by accurately reporting... 7. Educate! I enclose... o educational material about... o information about our program... o an article about... Here are Some Examples of Actual Letters, Written by Real-Life People Here is a Letter to a Newspaper Conerning an Offensive Cartoon Regarding the cartoon on your editorial page yesterday, the use of the words "paranoid schizophrenic" and the man in the straitjacket are very offensive. Apparently the person who authored this cartoon knows nothing about mental illness. Paranoid schizophrenia is a very serious mental illness, and it is nothing to make jokes about. The media is guilty of using this term indiscriminately. One in four families is affected by a mental illness. None of us has to look very far to know someone who has been touched by this disease. I hope the people who are guilty of using these terms will educate themselves. Here is a Lettter to a Television Network about a Stigmatizing Episode of a Situtation Comedy Show I am writing to express my deep disappointment that your network plans to rebroadcast an episode of the Drew Carey Show (August 20, 1997) that many of us in the mental health and vocational rehabilitation community find highly objectionable. This episode reinforces the wide-spread perception that persons with mental illness are dangerous, that employing people with a history of mental illness or being friendly with people with a history of mental illness is likely to end in violence, and that people with mental illness are to be kept away from the rest of society as much as possible. Having made the mistake twice now, the show simply chooses to ignore the criticism, rebroadcasts the offending episodes, and moves forward. Here is a Letter to a Newspaper about an Offensive Obituary Your Oct. 7 obituary of Margaret Mary Ray does a great disservice to Ray and to the millions of other people with mental illnesses. Focusing on Ray's unusual behaviors, it encourages the public to think of those with mental illnesses more as a bundle of frightening symptoms than as complex human beings, like others, with back-ground and roots and even accomplishments unrelated to her mental illness. In Ray's obituary, readers learn of her stalking of David Letterman, her imprisonment, and her institutionalization -- circumstances that are appropriately reported as part of the history that brought her to public attention. In contrast to the more traditional obituaries, however -- such as the one just below hers -- no information about other aspects of her life is given. The other obituary tells of the deceased woman's occupation and education. No information about education and occupation is provided for Margaret Mary Ray. The other obituary names a home town and tells a little about the woman's early life. No such information is provided for Ray. Readers are told of survivors who will mourn the other woman's passing. Ray's obituary ends only with a retelling of a joke about her from the Letterman show. Just because someone's mental illness has led her to jail, hospitalization and finally suicide does not mean that she should be treated as less fully human than others. Margaret Mary Ray -- as all those who have psychiatric disorders -- deserves recognition of a life and an identity beyond mental illness. Here is a "General Purpose" Educational Letter to a Newspaper In the past 2