‘People feel safer commenting on Carnival than on the more serious issues’ - Richmond Foundation
Controversy has erupted over a white van seen at the Nadur Carnival – known for its dark satire – with the words ‘Mount Carmel Clinic’, ‘Beware Mental Driver’, ‘Crazy’ and ‘Dimensja’ [sic] spraypainted on its sides.
Many have lambasted the stunt, describing it as a “sick joke” made at the expense of those suffering from mental health issues, while others have defended it as satirical and part of the Nadur Carnival’s spontaneity.
The Richmond Foundation – an NGO that supports people with mental health difficulties and promotes good mental health – has told this newspaper that people feel more comfortable discussing incidents such as this one in Nadur than a teenager escaping from Mount Carmel Hospital and committing suicide.
Social media has been awash with condemnatory posts ever since the photos went viral. The Richmond Foundation wrote in a Facebook post that it found the mockery of mentally ill people disturbing.
Speaking to The Malta Independent yesterday, the NGO’s CEO, Stephania Dimech, explained that targeting a service and institution which offers assistance to mentally ill people only added to the stigma already attached to the hospital.
“Such derogatory depictions make it harder for people in need of the hospital’s services – it will only deter them,” she said.
Asked why the Nadur incident had attracted so much attention compared to the death of a teenage patient two weeks earlier, Dimech said people felt safer commenting on the van than delving into real issues associated with mental health.
“The general public will not go anywhere near the depths of mental illness because it is frightening and unknown.”
“In the case of Mount Carmel and the patient who escaped and committed suicide, the general public does not feel comfortable or safe enough to blame it on the shortage of staff or anyone else, for example,” Dimech said.
“Carnival is carnival’ PS for Animal Rights
Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights Clint Camilleri yesterday defended the van as Carnival satire. “Carnival is carnival,” he wrote on Facebook.
Camilleri said that he was convinced that nobody wanted to hurt others, and that there was no need to make a fuss. “After all, this is the traditional Nadur Carnival!” he wrote.
His statement on Facebook was later taken down, possibly due to reaction of another parliamentary secretary.
Parliamentary Secretary for Reforms Julia Farrugia Portelli did not take the incident lightly. “There’s simply nothing funny in this. It is utterly disgusting. We should support mental health awareness and rekindle the value of solidarity,” she said.