Dayhoff Westminster Soundtrack: Independent - Hope Whitmore: As someone who's also autistic, the response to Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's panic attack has horrified me - Comment - Voices

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Independent - Hope Whitmore: As someone who's also autistic, the response to Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's panic attack has horrified me - Comment - Voices - The Independent

As someone who's also autistic, the response to Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's panic attack has horrified me - Comment - Voices - The Independent:

HOPE WHITMORE

Tuesday 23 December 2014

As someone who's also autistic, the response to Tara Palmer-Tomkinson's panic attack has horrified me

It's easy for the media to jump to conclusions rather than looking into the terrifying world of mental health problems

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/as-someone-whos-also-autistic-the-response-to-tara-palmertomkinsons-panic-attack-has-horrified-me-9943152.html

The other day a woman who is on the autistic spectrum, and who has a long history of struggling with addiction, had a panic attack at Heathrow Airport. The reaction one would expect would be sympathy - "How awful to be so ill! To lose control, to be reduced to shaking, shouting, crying with fear."

Instead, the British Press greeted the news with glee, mercilessly ripping into Tara Palmer-Tomkinson. According to the Mail, her "tantrum" occured because she was "denied access to a first class lounge", while The Sun ran the headline "Tara Nicked By 8 Gun Cops."

[...] http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/as-someone-whos-also-autistic-the-response-to-tara-palmertomkinsons-panic-attack-has-horrified-me-9943152.html

"To make it a spectacle to be gawped at is even worse, alienating mentally ill people and making them think they need to hide their problems rather than seeking help. In a year where much has been written about the importance of removing the stigma of mental illness, parts of the media still approach the topic with the sensibility of playground builles.

More than one in ten people have a disabling anxiety disorder at some point in their life, according to Anxiety UK. Should these people then feel like failures? People who have let down their friends and families? Of course not.

The media’s crowing over Tara Palmer-Tomkinson’s illness is not only deeply cruel to her as an individual, it is also disrespectful to the many people in the UK who suffer from anxiety and panic."

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/as-someone-whos-also-autistic-the-response-to-tara-palmertomkinsons-panic-attack-has-horrified-me-9943152.html

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