To: Mitch McConnell, United States Senator from Kentucky
Mitch McConnell: apologize for aides' remarks
According to Politico on 4/9/13:
"Aides to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell discussed attacking Ashley Judd’s mental health if the actress had opted to challenge the Kentuckian in 2014, according to a secret audio recording.
'She’s clearly, this sounds extreme, but she is emotionally unbalanced,' a McConnell aide says on the recording, which was obtained and posted by the liberal magazine Mother Jones. 'I mean it’s been documented. Jesse can go in chapter and verse from her autobiography about, you know, she’s suffered some suicidal tendencies. She was hospitalized for 42 days when she had a mental breakdown in the ’90s.'"
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four adults—approximately 57.7 million Americans—experience a mental health disorder in a given year. One in 17 lives with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder and about one in 10 children live with a serious mental or emotional disorder.
Mitch McConnell is perpetuating the shame and stigma of mental illness. The fact that Ashley Judd--a famous and successful actress--has persevered in the face of mental illness makes her a role model for every American and a more empathetic public servant. Tell Mitch McConnell to apologize to every American with mental illness and to fire these aides for their reprehensible behavior.
"Aides to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell discussed attacking Ashley Judd’s mental health if the actress had opted to challenge the Kentuckian in 2014, according to a secret audio recording.
'She’s clearly, this sounds extreme, but she is emotionally unbalanced,' a McConnell aide says on the recording, which was obtained and posted by the liberal magazine Mother Jones. 'I mean it’s been documented. Jesse can go in chapter and verse from her autobiography about, you know, she’s suffered some suicidal tendencies. She was hospitalized for 42 days when she had a mental breakdown in the ’90s.'"
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, one in four adults—approximately 57.7 million Americans—experience a mental health disorder in a given year. One in 17 lives with a serious mental illness such as schizophrenia, major depression or bipolar disorder and about one in 10 children live with a serious mental or emotional disorder.
Mitch McConnell is perpetuating the shame and stigma of mental illness. The fact that Ashley Judd--a famous and successful actress--has persevered in the face of mental illness makes her a role model for every American and a more empathetic public servant. Tell Mitch McConnell to apologize to every American with mental illness and to fire these aides for their reprehensible behavior.
Why is this important?
It's estimated that one in four Americans have struggled with mental illness. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's aide's insensitive remarks about Ashley Judd are unacceptable and offensive to millions of Americans.