Guest Post by Lucy Bergonzi Books Beyond Words is a publisher of picture-led books and resources for people with learning disabilities. These wordless stories, dealing with many of life’s issues, are designed for people who find it easier to read using pictures rather than words. I’ve been one of Books Beyond Words’ illustrators since 2015. The Covid pandemic has affected all of us to a greater or lesser extent, but for people with learning disabilities the crisis has been particularly difficult and damaging. The British Medical Journal says ‘the Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect… Read More
Crafting Contention through MadZines: Helen Spandler in conversation with Meg-John Barker
The MadZines research project is exploring how zines craft contention about mental health knowledge and practice. One of the purposes of the project is to explore the potential of zines to foster dialogue about contested issues in mental health. As part of this, the project team are having a series of dialogues with Mad-Zinesters (people who create and share zines about madness and distress). In the following extract from one of these conversations, Helen Spandler (HS) talks to Meg-John Barker (MJB) about how the comic graphics in their zines ‘craft contention’ about mental health. HS: Can you remember how… Read More
New Podcast episode: Mad Zines
In this installment I (Ian) interview Professor Helen Spandler, Dr Jill Anderson and Tamsin Walker, of the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) about their Wellcome Trust funded project which explores how zines ‘craft contention’ about mental health – and can help to turn individual struggles into critical issues for society. I really enjoyed this interview. I am very taken with the idea of mad studies. For an introduction to this exciting new area of study and activism, check out this article by Helen Spandler. Helen and Jill work on Asylum Magazine, to which Tamsin often contributes cartoons. Asylum, the radical mental health magazine, has been running for 30… Read More
Spotlight on Theo Phizza – Notes from the Asylum #1
Guest Post by Theo Phizza Following redundancy from a company at which I had worked for 22 years I was admitted to a mental health facility (“the Facility”) at the beginning of 2020 to be treated for generalised anxiety disorder (“GAD”) partly triggered by the redundancy situation. I first saw a Psychiatric Consultant in December 2019 who advised me that in-patient treatment would probably be best for me. It later turned out he had been a Psychiatric Advisor on a series of Big Brother. This seemed to me to be a possible cause of confusion as this Cartoon shows…. Read More
New Podcast: Reconciling the Public and Private in Health Comics with Whit Taylor
The episode opens with Alice Jaggers and host MK Czerwiec discussing Graphic Medicine News. That segment is followed by Whit Taylor‘s keynote address from the 2018 Comics & Medicine conference in White River Junction, Vermont. NOTE: The comics Whit mentions are linked below. Whit is a cartoonist, writer, editor, and public health educator. She has a BA in cultural anthropology from Brown University and received an MPH in Social and Behavioral Sciences from Boston University School of Public Health. Her comics have been published by The Nib, The New Yorker, Illustrated PEN and others. America Isn’t Ready For a Pandemic, The… Read More
New Podcast: Mental Health Comics
This month’s episode features a recording of the Mental Health Comics Panel from MICE 2018, Moderated by A. David Lewis, MCPHS University. Panelists include: Lucy Bellwood – 100 Demon Dialogues Kevin Budnik – Handbook LB Lee – MPD for You & Me Robyn Smith – Saddest, Angriest Black Girl in Town (also see this site.) Rachel Lindsay – Rx (also see this article.) Also relevant to this episode, quoting Matthew Noe’s This Week in Graphic Medicine, please note this Call for Papers: Invisible Made Visible: Comics and Mental Illness, to be edited by Leah Misemer & Jessica Gross. Matthew writes,… Read More