About the Mental Health Community

Mental health conditions impact 1 in 4 adults at some point in their life. There are many different conditions that are recognized as mental illnesses, including anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, schizophrenia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. 

Barriers to Inclusion

  • Conversations around mental health not a norm in society, creating an atmosphere where people feel discouraged about speaking up due to stigma.
  • Society's limited understanding about mental illness.
  • Jokes and biased language used in the workplace that tie directly to mental health.
  • Stereotypes built into laws, language, and processes.
  • Negative and stigmatized portrayals of mental illness in movies and tv shows.
  • Article or multimedia content about traumatic experiences that does not include a trigger warning.
  • Distracting and over complex designs (animated content, too much content with no visual means to distinguish between sections of content, etc.).
  • Design elements that rely on icons or visualizations only.
  • Confusing navigation.
  • No escape from a form submission process (e.g., reset button, cancel process, etc.).
  • Time limited responses.
  • Broken links.
  • Any kind of dark patterns that trick the user into completing a process. 

Amplifying Voices in the Mental Health Community

Our goal on this site is to amplify the voices of each community. Disability communities are often spoken over or spoken for when they are already speaking out for themselves.

Video: Removing the Stigma Around Mental Health

At 17 years old, Bekah Gerace has already experienced cancer and mental illness. However, she noticed a distinct difference in the way others treated her when she had her mental illness compared to her physical illness. Bekah is passionate about removing the stigma around mental illness and provides examples of how that can be done.

Book: The Collected Schizophrenias

Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esmé Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the “collected schizophrenias” but to those who wish to understand it as well. An essay collection of undeniable power, The Collected Schizophrenias dispels misconceptions and provides insight into a condition long misunderstood.

Video: Reimagining Mental Health Discourse Among African Americans

With the rising rate of suicide and other self-destructive behaviors related to mental health within the African American community, we need to enlarge the platform and opportunities to discuss it in a meaningful way. This talk by Shaun J. Fletcher is yet another battle against the social norms that have proven to have deadly consequences among African Americans.

Understanding How People with Mental Health Conditions Access the Web

Animations and auto-playing videos can be a huge trigger for a person with a mental health condition, especially if they include content that is trauma based. It's very important to ensure that videos do not auto-play and that you respect the reduced motion display mode. You should also build in content trigger warnings for any animations or videos that could trigger past trauma.

Someone with a mental health condition may use additional types of display modes, such as reader mode, to remove content that could be too distracting. 

Additional Resources

Articles

Podcasts