I am an artist based in London and I have schizophrenia.

I have been very lucky in having many kind and supportive friends with whom I have been open with about my diagnosis, but it wasn’t always so. When I was first unwell I found it incredibly difficult to be open about the condition, particularly in a work environment.

We always talk about stigmatising language, off the cuff phrases and discriminatory terms, but what’s the meaning behind the words? We often attribute misunderstanding, lack of knowledge or even malice to those who use such phrases. But what if we tried to decode them and realise their intention instead?