The Guardian published an article by Harold A. Maio questioning why the media refers to “‘the’ mentally ill,” which Maio says adds a “stigma” to those will mental illnesses.
Maio, described as a “relentless campaigner against prejudicial language,” called for journalists to stop grouping all “mentally ill” together. He wrote:
“Once one has diminished a group to a ‘the’, one then claims for them a ‘stigma’, a ‘they’, a difference, eventually a deficiency. Establishing an ‘us’ is one of the primary tools of prejudice, resulting in a ;them’.”
Read Maio’s full essay here.