Chris Kozak’s article on the Vermont teddy bear entirely misses the point of Vermont’s chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill’s complaint. It’s not a matter of being offended; it’s a matter of misleading people in an area that is misunderstood. The misconceptions around mental illness are beyond belief. So many people don’t view them as illnesses, but as character flaws, a lack of willpower or that the person is simply crazy. The truth of the matter is that the brain is an organ, the most important organ in our bodies, and just as something can go wrong with one’s liver that causes health problems, something can go wrong with one’s brain as well.

So when one sees a supposed “crazy” bear wrapped up in a strait jacket to keep him from harming anyone a la Hannibal Lecter, it reinforces the stigma associated with mental illness. However, in actuality, some of the greatest people in the world have struggled with mental illnesses, including Mozart, Abraham Lincoln and Michelangelo. Furthermore, nearly all people with mental illnesses lead normal lives, and if they do have to be hospitalized they are not taken away kicking and screaming in a strait jacket.

What Vermont’s NAMI chapter, an advocacy group for the mentally ill, did was speak on an issue they feel strongly about. Perhaps Chris would want people to stay silent on matters that enhance ignorance, but I certainly hope no one pays attention to him. The Vermont Teddy Bear company did have a choice in the matter, and they didn’t “give in,” but realized the harm they were doing and worked to correct it. It’s people like Chris who are driving me insane.

Jim Monti

President-National Alliance for the Mentally Ill-UIUC