The Bracelet Project - Would you wear one?
I recently heard of something called "The Bracelet Project" by Wear Your Label, a Canadian company whose mission is to break stigma about mental illness. They created a bracelet project where you wear a bracelet with a particular colour that signifies a particular mental illness in support of yourself or someone you love. Dark blue is for Mood Disorders.
Personally, I ordered one in the mail and my fiance ordered one too (unfortunately, they're sold out). Would you wear one? What's your way of eliminating stigma?
https://wearyourlabel.com/collections/bracelet-project
Thank you for sharing this! I would definitely wear a bracelet to help end the stigma of mental illness. I would wear one colour for my disorder and another colour for a friend who recently committed suicide because her illness. She began a fight to help end the stigma in our community that she was unable to finish unfortunately but she left a huge impact and there are many people here who are willing to finish her battle!
@PerfectlyImperfectt21
I am so sorry to hear about your friend. I think it's beautiful that you would wear one for them. Thank you so much for your reply. It's a battle that we will hopefully win!
Lee.
Oh my, how did I only come across this now?? IT'S SO AMAZING, OH MY GOSH. I love projects that aim to spread awareness about mental health, it's a great way of showing support and solidarity. I'd definitely wear this!
PS. @Lee, you rock!
@ZaraSmiles
Thank you for stopping in, my love. I have my own now and am incredibly proud to wear it.
All my love,
Lee.
@Lee, which one did you end up getting? Shoot a pic this way of you wearing it c; Definitely going to order one soon! And you deserve to be hella proud wearing that!
@Lee
I had somehow never seen these before but the idea is truly awesome! I know others who wear bracelets for invisible physical conditions so this is something I will definitely check out
Thank you <3
I saw bracelet project, and sadly there isn't one in my country. But I encourage everyone to wear one if they have some of those disorders/problems to see if there are people with same problems, I think it's a good way to find a good friend who will listen and understand.
Yes I would wear one
Definite kudos for wanting to bring awareness of mental illness out of the closet. I believe it's incredibly important! However, the whole "bracelet wearing for awareness" thing has annoyed me for decades. It's similar to everyone tying yellow ribbons around a tree at home to remind anyone who sees them that we want to bring soldiers home from war. Great sentiment and all, but did the ribbons get any soldiers home faster or bring an end to ridiculous, wasteful violence any quicker? I really don't think so.
Please don't misunderstand what I'm writing here, though. I am not criticizing or making fun of people who would chose to wear any bracelet for awareness of whatever they would like to support. I am just poking the anthill a little bit questioning their overall impact. They certainly can't do that much harm.
I am very open about my struggle with Bipolar Disorder (in circumstances in which it is appropriate to reference it). I would not hesitate to "advertise" my Bipolar status. Heck, I might be more likely to wear a tee-shirt that read "This is What Bipolar Looks Like" (or something hopefully more witty) to start a conversation with people I come in contact with.
@ladylazarus1971 PS Does that whole "Wear your Label" web address creep anybody else out? Labels ARE stigmas, aren't they? I thought some of the point of getting awareness of mental illness out into mainstream culture and discussion was to "unlabel" folks and make us more 3D, more real than being rubber-stamped on the forehead with frightening definitions like Bipolar and Schizophrenic.
I want to be seen as more than my disease. I want people to know that I AM NOT BIPOLAR!!!! I HAVE Bipolar disease. I am a person, just like every other human. When someone is fighting cancer, we don't say, "Oh look! Here comes Barb. She is cancer." But sure enough, if Barb was diagnosed with BD, it would be as likely as not that someone would say "Barb is Bipolar." I find that pretty sad.
Thanks for giving me free-rein for a mini-rant!
@ladylazarus1971
I think you found that more "catchy" phrase for that t-shirt
"I am not bipolar, I have bipolar disease!"
*bump*
I would not wear a bracelet, but not for the reason you'd expect. How many people know what dark blue means? That's my big problem with awareness ribbons and bracelets. There are only so many colors to represent a HUGE list of issues.
As an example, a lot of Teal shows up on my Facebook feed because I have Trigeminal Neuralgia. So I should wear a Teal ribbon. Except a Teal ribbon is also worn for anti-bullying awareness, anxiety disorders, PTSD, food allergy awareness, gynecologic cancer awareness, scleroderma, sexual assault, dissociative identity disorder, PCOS, myasthenia gravis, tsunami victims, tourette syndrome, spina bifida, the list goes on.
If the Bipolar bracelet is blue, then we share with arthritis, dystonia, chronic fatigue syndrome, reye's syndrome, and who knows what else.
Know what I'd wear? A t-shirt. Big block print, front and back, so everyone can read it. "I have mental illness. Ask me anything."
I d really wear this bracelet if people would know about what that means. But many people don t care because they are happy and they are normal.i hope something will change so that we can help and understand eachother more . I truly hope for the better friends!
