Let me first say that I am completely unsure of which candidate I will vote for in the upcoming election. I know it will not be Trump, but other than that, I don't know, and won't talk about it when I do know.
Also, I will reiterate that one of the reasons for this blog is to help get rid of the stigma surrounding mental health. But that does not mean that every time someone makes a joke about mental illness, I will get offended. It depends on the joke, and it depends on the intent. Bernie Sanders talked about investing in mental health. Then he said that the Republicans need it. First of all, in the case of Trump, he's absolutely right. Secondly, are you seriously going to spend that much effort chastising him for the comment? Do you really think his thought was "Oh, I don't take mental health seriously and so I'm going to make fun of it."? No, his purpose was to insult the Republicans; many of whom could give a rat's patootie about mental illness.
Yes, there is a stigma around mental illness, but by getting all up in arms about one comment, you are not helping that stigma. One of the most important things I have learned in dealing with this is to laugh at myself and to not take everything so seriously. If you can't do that, and you go looking for comments to get angry at, then you're no better than the people making the comment. Instead, go out and spread the truth about mental illness and how possible it is to live life with it, rather than be disabled by it. And for the love of God, quit using the word ableism. You have used it so many times it's like you're trying to convince us that you know the word. That's great, nice vocabulary. Not stop it because you sound like a pretentious boob.
