Disability: the lack of competent power, strength, or physical or mental ability

Disable: to weaken or destroy the capability of or to cripple or incapacitate

Disability in the simplest of terms is not having the ability to complete a task, but the Maquarie dictionary defines it as ‘the lack of competent power, strength, or physical or mental ability'. The Maquarie dictionary then defines ‘Disable' as ‘to weaken or destroy the capability of or to cripple or incapacitate'.

So what is a disability, who has a disability and what causes it.

The first definition describes a lack of power or ability to complete a task, the second definition describes the act of taking that competency away.

These definitions are very broad and can be applied to label every member of our society as disabled. Every one of us lacks the power or ability to complete certain tasks and we all become disabled at some point.

The reality of it is that nobody is disabled, but the way that we have built our communities and our society disables everyone who does not fit into the narrow band of ‘normal'.

People in wheelchairs are a good example and generally the first group that springs to mind. Generally, people would agree that anyone bound to a wheelchair is disabled. In fact they are not disabled, their legs don't work, this in itself is not a disability. Society gives people in wheelchairs a disability, or society disables them, by not catering to their needs.

What if the world was built entirely by people in wheelchairs and everything was built only to cater for wheelchair bound people. All of a sudden everyone with working legs, who can walk, become disabled.

Try and picture this world. The most noticable change would be that there would be no seats, anywhere. People not in a wheelchair would have to stand or sit on the ground. Picture it, no seats on public transport, no seats in the street, no seats in schools or lecture theatres and sporting events. Imagine taking a train from Melbourne to Sydney , which had no seats. You would have to sit on the floor for the entire journey. The next big change would be the height of things. Benchs would be lower, ATM's would be lower, counters would be lower, people whose legs worked would spend their whole day stooped over because they would have to bend down to do everything. 99% of taxis would be wheelchair taxi's and able bodied people would have to wait forever to get a taxi with seats in it. The Paralympics would be held first and the Olympics a few weeks after, which few people would attend or be interested in. The records set in wheelchairs would be the world records. But, the biggest change would be at the shopping centre because in the carpark there would only be a handful of car parks for the people whose legs worked, way up the back somewhere, and the rest of them would be wheelchair parks. When the world is built solely for people in wheelchairs, it becomes a nightmare for people whose legs work, or you might say that people with working legs become disabled.

People don't have disabilities, people have illnesses, or their legs don't work, or their eyes aren't so good. Society gives people disabilities, or as the Macquarie dictionary puts it, society disables them by destroying their capabilities and not catering to their needs.

This is disability.

Stigma:

Now, lets look at stigma.

Stigma: a mark of disgrace; a stain, as on ones reputation.

Stigmatise: to set some mark of disgrace or infamy upon.

It should now be becoming clear what stigma is. It too, like disability, is nothing more than a creation of our attitudes. Lets look at the definitions.

Stigma: a mark of disgrace; a stain, as on ones reputation. A mark of disgrace, a stain, as on ones reputation, simply for having an illness. That sounds a little crazy to me.

To stigmatise, now this is the really alarming definition. Stigmatise: to set some mark of disgrace or infamy upon. To set a mark of disgrace on someone, simply for having an illness. Who sets a mark of disgrace on someone for being ill.

So stigma is a mark of disgrace that we place on people simply because they have an illness that we do not understand. We create stigma and place a mark of disgrace on people, or, we stigmatise them. The people with the illness have done nothing to deserve this mark of disgrace, but we thoughtlessly stigmatise people every day, placing a mark of disgrace on them just because they have an illness.

I remember learning about a similar thing in history class at high school. There was a group of people that were stigmatised for no other reason than who they were. Back then it wasn't called stigma, back then it was called racism and the illness they had was being black. The reasons for racism towards black people hold as much water as the reasons for stigmatising people with mental illness. And, racism has the same effect as stigma, being afraid of someone because they are black is just ridiculous, so is being afraid of someone because they have an illness. Yet, if you were to call someone a nigger in your workplace you wouldn't have a job for much longer but you can call someone crazy, or psycho, or a nut case and nobody bats an eyelid. But these flippant, off the cuff, remarks have the same impact as a racial slur.

I often get confused with these remarks anyway. Someone is yelling and screaming or muttering to themselves, so you stigmatise them by calling them a psycho or a nutcase. Then someone asks you how the gig was last night and you remark that the crowd was going nuts, the show was insane and the encore was crazy.

That guy is sick. That car is sick. That guy is mental. The crowd is going mental.

So does crazy mean bad, or really, really good.

I'm not sure, and I don't think we are either.

Stigma is a mark of disgrace that we place on people, as we see fit. It is a mark of disgrace that is based, just like racism, on nothing more than misunderstanding and ignorance.

Stigmatising someone for having an illness is just down right despicable.

But, we create the stigma and therefore, we can remove it. We can remove it, simply by getting to know someone with a mental illness and giving mental illness faces, names and personalities. We can remove it by getting a better understanding of mental illness, and gaining a better insight into how strong and courageous the people who live with mental illness really are.

Then when we call someone crazy, it will no longer be a convoluted mix of stigma or an adjective for something fantastic, it will be a term of endearment and admiration.

I encourage everyone to report stigma that you see in the media to SANE Australia 's StigmaWatch by visiting www.sane.org and signing up for the StigmaWatch program.