On 03/11/16 15:13, Luca Martinelli wrote:
Sorry for my bluntness, but... are we REALLY having this conversation? We're about to question our annual summit's name after 12 editions? Is it really a problem?
Yes.
I was prompted to make my plea, which I had tentatively made in the past few weeks, after hearing a radio programme about the terms used to describe (the symptoms of) mental ill health.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b080t8nq
*** How often do you use words like mad, crazy and schizophrenic in every day conversation? What impact does this have on people with mental health problems? To discuss this we brought together Niall Boyce, the Editor of the Lancet Psychiatry, linguist Dr Zsofia Demjen, and Clive Buckenham, an ambassador for Time to Change. ***
Another term that is also misused is "schizophrenic" (not a split personality, but a serious mental illness). Which by a similar logic is OK since it has been used a very large number of times in conversation?
OCD is also used incorrectly.
Wikimania correctly concerns itself with the diversity of participants. Sexual orientation, gender, physical disability and mental illness and more. My assertion is that we should change the name, even if is it just a minority who feel that is not correct and proper (in the year 2016). Many terms used in the past are now not considered appropriate.
Gordo
P.S. I was at Frankfurt, for the first Wikimania Conference.