Stop the pity party, don’t label me, please!
Awhile back I stumbled on a news headline which read ‘ President appoints a blind man as Senior Special Assistant’ on a national newspaper. Oh, what insolence! Not because the journalist couldn’t at least use a politically correct term, but what irked me more was the fact that the senior special assistant was tagged first as visually impaired before anything else; before his certifications, degree or background.
Have you ever been in a position where you share an experience, probably as a lesson to others or just for the sake of sharing and you get the usual outpour of ‘ehya, sorry oh, wishing you all the best, don’t worry everything would be alright’. This is my story, whenever I share my mental health struggle. Please for God’s sake, Stop! We don’t want it and we don’t want to partake in it.
For most of us who have been there, won the battle or are still fighting, this can be extremely frustrating. Is this a Nigerian thing? Is there somewhere in the laws and constitution of Nigeria that says the default response to a presumable bad event is pity? What if, just what if you take the lesson and understand the information and give responses like ‘wow, I would like to know more, how did this happen, let me help share your story’.
This is a rant of a twenty something- year- old, but I’m sure this cuts across all ages, backgrounds and issues of life. We just want to be treated normally. No tags, no labels. Not to say that there aren’t people who thrive when pitied and enjoy the attention they get from it. But for some of us, it’s a no-no.
Living with a mental health doesn’t make me ‘mad’ and most definitely doesn’t make me different, as with anybody living with a disorder or disability. I am Chioma Nwosu, I am a graduate of Petroleum Engineering and the Executive Director of Olamma Cares Foundation. I am whole, complete and enough in my capacity.
Chioma Nwosu is a mental health/ positive psychology advocate, speaker and founder of Olamma Cares Foundation an NGO focused on encouraging the social acceptance of autism and mental disorders, finding and implementing long term solutions of these conditions through training, capacity building, advocacy and intervention.
Email: cnwosu@olammacares.com Instagram: _olamma_