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Singing Out Loud is Crazy: How Healthcare Organizations Help Stigma
I was taking the subway to work yesterday and I happened to look up at the advertisements that ran along the top of the car I was in. An ad for the Sick Kinds Foundation “Do The Happy” Campaign caught my eye.
If the O’s as faces is confusing it reads: “If you sing out loud this month nobody will think you’re crazy.”
Sick Kids is not just a foundation it’s a HOSPITAL! It is The Hospital for Sick Children in downtown Toronto!
IT’S A HOSPITAL!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH
So, what can we say about this advertisement that is supposed to encourage people to spread awareness and donate to children’s health?
- People who sing out loud are crazy.
- People who sing out loud should be considered crazy.
- You should be worried about being perceived as crazy.
- If you are already crazy you should feel shame about your behaviours.
- If you are already crazy we’ll “excuse” you for this month.
I cannot as the slogan says “Do the Happy”. I am very unhappy! I’m very disappointed! Sick Kids does in fact have a psychiatry department so they are not oblivious to the fact that they will interact with individuals, especially children, who are experiencing mental health issues!
This isn’t just a case of “It’s crazy we’re not doing more for children’s health.” This is Sick Kids drawing a blatant line between sanity and insanity! A HOSPITAL!!!!!??????
As a little girl I was taught that hospitals and doctors were safe places where you go to get better when you’re sick or hurt. It pains me now to see as an adult that this is not the case! Individual healthcare professionals and what’s more devastating is whole organizations can contribute to the oppression of those with mental health issues and create a further gap between “normal” and “abnormal”!
I’m going to send The Sick Kids Foundation an email explaining to them how I feel. I’m so outraged!
