Back in Primary school, there was this girl we used to call
Mess-Mess.
Not because she smells but because we perceived her as dumb.
She never had answers to even the easiest questions so we labeled her dumb and
put her in that container.
We never questioned why. We just labelled her. Now, I am
thinking that maybe, just maybe that girl was dyslexic. She had all the signs.
She always sat in the back seat, always struggled to see the board.
That is how we have labelled people things that they truly
are not. We never ask why people act the way they do, especially when it has to
do with abstract thinks like mental or psychological health.
Maybe you had a neighbour that was very wicked, a woman that
always beat her kids mercilessly, one that slept around, one that was dumb,
maybe it was even you. Or a man who always beat his wife, a youth corper who
stuttered endlessly, a kid who always came last yet was great with playing
drums or drawing, etc.
Sometimes, these things are problems that have been
identified in the abroad but remains as obscure as a blank blackboard here in
Nigeria. That is what my book, The Ones in My Head was all about.
What if you knew a girl who everybody called mad because
sometimes, she forgets who she is and goes by other names. what if she was not
possessed or mad as we would say but she had Multiple Personality Disorder?
What if we tried to understand things before we labelled
people and put them in that box forever?
The danger here is that not everybody is strong enough to
break out of that box. Some of them go through life believing that they are
what people have labelled them to be.
I wonder if that girl we called Mess-Mess still sees herself
as dumb today. I wish I can find her to tell her that she is not dumb.
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