In media, most people with mental disabilities are perceived to be crazy, dangerous or criminals.
It is seen in movies and on daily news . Anytime there is a case with brutal killings (ex. Mom killing her kids), it is instantly blamed on a mental illness or insanity.
I think that this is one of the biggest misconceptions the general public has about people with mental disabilities. Many of the people with mental disabilities are more likely to hurt them self in reality then others.Also because of this stereotype that they are all serial killers and dangerous, society puts them in fear and isolation even further. Even if they tried breaking the stereotype, it would be very hard
Questions?
Why do you think people with mental disabilities are perceived this way?
Do you people know any celebrities that are mentally disabled (OCD, bipolar etc…)?
I don't think people in general assume that people with disabilities are serial killers or murderers. I think the misconception lays in whether the person(s) who committed the crime did so with a clear intention and not because of a "disability" that they might have.
ReplyDeleteI don't think people with disabilities are perceived in the way you say they are. Its just that a good defence lawyer will do anything to keep their client(s) from going to jail or at least serve a minimum amount of time, and one way they do so is by putting a murderer in the same category as a person who suffers from schizophrenia for example in order to gain sympathy from the jury and change their vote. DISCLAIMER: I am not a law student, ask Mr. Ferguson. For your second question, there are a number of famous celebrities who have had a disability and some continue to struggle with it. Here a few examples:
Bruce Willis - severe stuttering problem when he was young.
Leonardo DiCaprio - Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder(on going).
Michael J. Fox - Parkinsons(technically it is classfied as a disease).
Whoopi Goldberg - Dyslexia
http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/article_0060.shtml
I agree but because of how that defence lawyer is trying to save his client by putting a mental disorder there it effects the way we see the actual people with that disorder, that’s what I mean.
ReplyDeleteAnd yea I did a whole project on celebs with mental disorders and was just wondering if you guys knew (it’s good to do research :P )
hahaha your title is misleading Aimon
ReplyDeleteI thought this was going to be a post about how serial killers are mentally disabled,
It turns out its one about mentally disabled people being portrayed as serial killers.
The way society views mental illness is that they consider it synonymous with terrible people.
I don't know about you, but I definitely see people with mental illnesses this way.
You might be thinking, how insensitive of Sam! But I'm SURE you do too! When someone is just a terrible person, don't you go, "you're sick!"? That's saying that, this terrible act they may have done is seen in some way related to a mental disability.
It's really a stereotype that people have had for a very long time about mentally ill people, and, although we are more aware now, you can see, the stereotypes are still in the way we talk.
Well, media influences us that criminals or serial killers are "not normal". Disabled people are also seen as "not normal" people. Which is why there is a connection between criminals and disabled people.
ReplyDeleteOhhh and David Beckham has OCD. He is still cute..=)♥
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ReplyDeleteAdilah, you just used an Informal Fallacy(loaded term/equivocation).
ReplyDelete(Keep in mind that the label "not normal" is offensive to both criminals and disabled people).
CRIMINALS= NOT NORMAL
DISABLE PEOPLE= NOT NORMAL
THEREFORE DISABLE PEOPLE=CRIMINALS
*shakes head* :)
It is easy to place blame than to actually face consequences, so at any opportunity one might get, they place the blame on disabilities. Like Granit said, I doubt anyone sees disabled people as killers, instead they take pity on them which is unnecessary. People also tend to be scared of mentally disabled people because they don't simply understand, and that probably what causes the biggest fear of mentally disabled people.
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty evident that anytime there is a murder or any type of intense crime. The murderer or the criminal is blamed to have a mental disability which is why the crime occured.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there might not be anything wrong with the criminals in terms of a mental diability but the stereotype that's in out mind makes us believe that those criminals have to have something going on wrong in their mind.
I agree with granit's earlier comment that people that commit a crime know what they are doing and that most of the time a defence lawyer would say that his client was crazy or is diagnosed with some type of mental illness and if they were guilt the sentence would be less if they had a mental illness.
ReplyDeleteOverall, its sad how people think that all mentally disabled people are violent and aggressive but in reality its the opposite most of the people are quite kind...
ReplyDeletein the end psycology plays a big part in peoples perceptions because it is all affected by the unknown factor. people are affraid and fear the mentally disabled because they are unsure of how they act or what goes on in their minds and naturally it is human nature to think that everything is a threat thus why people directly believe that the disabled are extremely violent.
I have to agree with Granit that people don't really perceive the mentally disabled as serial killers. I think this stereotype exists because of the actual criminals. Many of them, when they know they are going to lose, immediately plead mental disability. It isn't only the fact that they are pleading such that begins the stereotype, but that it is riduculously easy to "prove" a mental disability in a court case. This manner of escaping from serious jail time has lead to the fear of many mentally disabled persons as being psychotic murderers.
ReplyDeleteI think that mentally ill people get stereotyped as dangerous people, because most of the serial killer, rapists, pedophiles are actually mentally ill.The point is there are so many different types of illness and causes; such as some people are born with a mental disorders, while another person may be abused as child and grew into a mass murderer. This problem of negative stereotype is similar this one," most muslims are not terrorists, but most terrorists are muslims".
ReplyDelete