Language and "mental illness"

Language is an important feature of psychiatric liberation. How a statement is structured can determine its true-false modality in logic. How we use language communicates our bias, motives and agendas. Words are powerful units of statements. Old, inaccurate descriptors, along with the inappropriate use of medical diagnoses, perpetuate negative stereotypes and reinforce an incredibly powerful attitudinal barrier. And this invisible, but potent, attitudinal barrier, not the diagnosis itself, is the greatest obstacle facing individuals with disabilities. When we make the diagnosis the most important thing about a person, we devalue and disrespect him/her as an individual.