Several campaigns have been setup to help educate people about the dangers emanating from stigmatizing people with mental illness, yet, it seems all these efforts are not yielding fruits. Mental illness is still being stigmatize in our society.
There are some misconceptions about Mental illness i.e. others are of the notion that mental illness is basically a white person’s disease. In her mission to change the way people of color with mental illness are represented, Dior Vargas, a self-acclaimed “Latina feminist mental health activist” launched the People of Color & Mental Illness Photo Project.
“I knew no other young women of color who shared my experience. No one talked about it. … I came to realize that a huge part of this stigma is because people of color are not included in the representation of mental illness. How can we destigmatize this in our community if we are never shown in its representation? If we do not see ourselves in this then why would this be an important topic in our community?” Vagas told Mic.
A project which was meant to challenge the People of Color by letting them speak out and unburden themselves of the shame and secrecy of living with a mental illness. People were advised to submit a photo of themselves showing the mental illness they have.
