“I have never raped, tortured, or abused anyone, and yet because I am a ‘survivor of psychiatry’, neither the government nor society gives me the rights I deserve,” says Rashmi Valliappan.
Around 12 years ago, Rashmi was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and now, she has made it her mission in life to educate those around her on what people with mental illness go through in daily life.
On Saturday, in recognition of one of her stories on the tribulations she endured because of the disorder, the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF) and the Press Institute of India presented her with the first prize at the ‘Media for Mental Health’ award function.
“I wrote this piece as a kind of catharsis when I was in therapy, and I sent it to a friend, who then forwarded it to the Women’s Feature Service and they immediately accepted it,” she told The Hindu .
Indian law states that people with mental illness cannot travel in an aeroplane unless they are sedated, and they need a doctor and therapist to accompany them on public transport. They can’t vote, have no say in their treatment and don’t have the same right to education as others.
Many of these rules are unconstitutional, but nobody is willing to change these archaic rules, says Rashmi.
By the time she was 15 years old, Rashmi’s life had already started to spiral out of control. Addicted to several recreational drugs, she was living weeks at a time in her car and barely ever came home. It was not till much later that she was referred to a psychiatrist, who diagnosed her with ‘paranoid schizophrenia.’
Though it took her a couple of years to come to terms with it, she later realised that her calling was to reach out to other people with mental illness and help the ‘layman’ understand what it is to have a mental illness, she said.
Now, she has been clean for nearly four years and, in order to raise awareness on mental health issues, she has started the ‘Red Door Project’. (The project can be reached at www.reddoor.in or on Facebook through ‘The Red Door Group’ and on tumblr at thereddoorproject.tumblr.com.)
The project, which has over 800 members from around the world, encourages people with mental illness and others to share their experiences.
Three prizes were presented to people from the English media and two to people who wrote in a vernacular medium by cinematographer and filmmaker Rajiv Menon.
According to director, SCARF, Thara Srinivasan, the idea of these awards is to encourage people to write about mental health in the media.
