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Edit: By jokes, I mean both jokes and offhand remarks that are meant to be funny, and... well, finding humor in it in general.

Okay, so this is something I've been thinking about for a while, and since I don't really have much besides my own experience to go off of, I figured I'd ask you guys about it.

Basically, I'm just wondering what you think about jokes concerning mental 'illnesses' or disorders. This is mostly about disorders in general, but I'll sort of focus on two in particular since they're the ones that affect me the most (and probably explain why I'm such a hardcore lurker on the forums/soloer on zOMG!): Attention Deficit Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder (ADD and SAD)*.

These two things make my life, to be perfectly blunt and honest, a ******** pain in the a**. And yet, I get a lot of amusement out of poking fun at myself for them. Honestly, it's the only way I can get through a day without wanting to paint my walls with blood from banging my head against it. The only problem is, sometimes making a joke about how, say, I avoid going into my own kitchen when there are people in there because the idea of talking to other people (in certain environments) scares the s**t out of me... well, things get awkward. I mean, I always kind of thought that if people who are actually affected by whatever's being joked about can laugh at it, then it's fine, but then I notice that normal less dysfunctional people don't seem to appreciate it, which confuses the heck out of me. Why would someone whose life isn't dramatically affected by these things be more offended than someone whose life is?


So, here are my questions for you all.
- What do you think of jokes about disorders that literally make regular, everyday tasks an absolute nightmare, or make life difficult in general?
- Would you tell a joke about a mental disorder?
- Would you laugh at one?
- Does it depend on who's telling it?
- Does it depend on the disorder?
- Heck, does it depend on the joke?



*For anyone who's not familiar with either of these two, here's a basic explanation:
ADD: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) is a condition resulting in symptoms of inability to maintain attention, impulsive behaviors and/or motor restlessness. (found here)
SAD: Social anxiety disorder is an anxiety disorder in which people fear social situations where they might be embarrassed or judged. When put in a social situation where they might become anxious sufferers have symptoms such as a racing heart, trembling, blushing or even sweating. (found here)



Edit: I was going to add in a list of disorders just to give people more than two examples to think about, but then I looked and realized just how many there really are, and I don't really want to go through and find the most well-known ones at the moment, so here, have a convenient wikipedia list.

Dang. Looking over this post, I can't really tell if it's coherent or not, but hopefully it is. I'm not going to try to go through and edit it because it's already taken me at least an hour to get it to this point. And yes, I did spend that long on it, and I fully blame the fact that I'm crazy. Because I can.



Okay, so your post set me off on what was going to be a really long-winded rant (and admittedly, I may have misinterpreted it), but then when I was trying to think of an example for just how bad life can be with a disorder, I realized that the examples I came up with could also be portrayed as a joke. There is irony in this situation, I just can't point out exactly what it is.

It does bother me when people say disorders are just something that makes you different. It's not just being different, it's having troubles with even the most simple parts of life because your mind just can't handle some things the way it's supposed to. Like taking a shower in a shared bathroom in a dorm setting, for example.
Normal person: would gather everything up, walk down the hall, and take a shower.
Person with Social Anxiety: would gather everything up, listen at the door for sounds of people, open the door slightly to look around for people, shut the door if there are signs of anyone and wait at least ten minutes, try again, wait until the coast is clear, then sneak out and speed-walk to the bathroom like a ninja (this is actually what I do all the time).



Okay, I kept losing my train of thought while I was writing this, but I think the basic point is that a full-on mental disorder is something that severely impedes your ability to live normally, and that's not just being different. Someone who's missing a leg doesn't hate the fact that their lack of a leg makes them different, they hate the fact that they can't walk anymore. At least, that's what I would assume most people would hate about missing a leg.


All right, going back to the whole 'is it okay to joke about this stuff' thing, I guess it's basically laughing at the fact that I sneak to the bathroom like a ninja instead of being all depressed and mopey about it. Because seriously, even though I hate the fact that I do it, I still think it's hilarious. Not sure if I can turn that into a joke with a punchline, though.

Yeah, but what I was trying to say is that in some cases, it's a lot more extreme than that.

If you like, think of the 'norm' as being able to live without doing something that's damaging to your own health and safety and/or the health and safety of others. People who are driven to the point of seeing a therapist on a regular basis and/or taking drugs tend to be the ones who can't handle that. Like with me, I completely screwed myself over last semester because I had difficulties talking to teachers and people about things that I needed to know for the sake of passing my classes. Or even better, I kept skipping meals and pretty much starved myself for most of the semester because I couldn't handle going into the kitchen when someone else was in there, just because I get stressed out by the very idea that I'll screw up and say something stupid while making small talk.

Not just that, but simple things, like going to a restaurant, making a deposit at the bank, buying groceries, doing laundry, mailing a package, asking for directions... aren't those usually things that people expect adults to be able to do without having to plan every single detail out in advance? I always figured they were, but if I'm wrong and they're not, then I'll concede.

I dunno, I think joking about that sort of thing reaches into the tasteless at times. There's nothing at all funny about that sort of thing. I mean, yeah, laughing about some of the things people with the disorder might do can be okay, but laughing about the disorder itself is just... wrong.

Case in point, I recently started stuttering again and don't know why. The other day at breakfast, I was trying to say "fish Schaeffer, sir" and was failing miserably with the two "sh" sounds juxtaposed like that. And it was hilarious, even to me (I guess I made it worse because I was having a hard time not laughing at myself). Sometimes, I'll make mistakes like that, and yes, it's funny. Is the fact that I stutter funny? No. Is the fact that I'm going back to speech therapy for the first time in almost ten years funny? Definitely not.

I have issues with people joking about it, mainly because I'm so used to people meaning to insult while they do it. I feel like I constantly have to be defensive because in high school I did have to be. Even s**t like someone insulting my teeth because of my cavities. I have really bad cavitities because of chemo making me puke, that's not my fault yet these pricks acted like I didn't know what a toothbrush is.

That kinda points to sadism...Definitely not the norm. Therefore, don't listen to him, juno. xd

Depends, I mean some people use disorders as an excuse to get by with little to no effort in life. "Ohhhhh I'm Autistic, I need special care, treat me nicely." When majority of Autistic people are more than capable of living on their own (when they're not babied for being branded with Autism).

Same goes for ADD. People use it as an excuse in place of laziness. ADD doesn't mean you can't do work, it just means you need to pace yourself so you don't lose focus.

Obviously goes without saying there are severe cases that would not apply to the above, but it is people like that who are the cause of jokes and being taken lightly.

I have at least one disorder. (by that I mean I know I have one and am pretty sure I have a few others since even basic psychology can tell you that Foxie has a messed up mind. ;P)
In all honesty I dont see the point in jokes.
Ehh funny? If you say so, I dont get them myself...and not sure why someone would take offence to it.