Look, if I had written an actual title for this, I know alot of people wouldn't have clicked on it.
On March 14th, exactly one month since the Parkland Florida school shooting, many schools discussed violence in schools. However, so many of them got it horribly wrong. Both schools and the government digress from the topic of firearms and weapons of war to bame this violence on people with mental illness, which just isn't true. What alot of people don't understand is that people with mental illness are ubiqutously functioning members of society- one in five people in America have a mental illness, and when you factor in the entire world, that's one in four. I have anxiety and depression, but I still go to school and interact with other people (contrary to what people on television cough Fox News cough might assume). And it hurts so much for people with mental illness to see these depictions assuming that we're crazy, or dangerous, or stupid, or burdens to society. In fact, when my school attempted to discuss mental illness, I was appalled. several weeks ago, there was an assembly to inform students about self-harm and suicide. However, there was no mention of mental illness (keep in mind that 90 of people who die by completed suicide or accidentally invasive self-harm have at least one mental illness at the time of their death) because it would make the students "too uncomfortable." However, on March 14th, they said students with mental illness should be closely observed for signs of violence. So, essentially, they didn't want to actually discuss mental illness, but they were fine with blaming people with mental ilness for something. I am sick of this societal trend of avoiding the topic of mental illness unless, as I said, to blame people with mental illness for something simply for the sake of convenience. 96 of the perpetrators of gun violence are neurotypicals- we are not at fault for this. This is my goddamn voice saying that we have to end the stigma around mental illness so people won't be afraid to get help, because that can save lives. If you hear someone saying that people with mental illness are to blame for gun violence, call them out and call attention the real killer: guns.