Show house riles mental health lobby
A mental health lobby group wants Perth Royal Show organisers to shut a haunted house based on a 17th century mental asylum in which actors pretend to be inmates.
The Consumers of Mental Health WA said the exhibit, a 15-room replica of London's notorious Bethlem Sanatorium, should be closed and organisers should apologise for an attraction that misrepresented mentally-ill people as objects of "fear, humour and entertainment".
COMHWA executive director Shauna Gaebler said the haunted hospital and another exhibit, the asylum 3-D spinning horror, were "offensive and discriminatory" because they stereotyped mentally-ill people as dangerous and objects of general fun.
"The exhibitions reinforce stereotypes that people with mental illness differ in appearance to other members of the community and are violent, dangerous, untrustworthy or unpredictable," she said.
Sanitorium creator Leonard Pickel. Picture: Michael O'Brien/The West Australian
Mental Health Commissioner Tim Marney, in a letter to The West Australian today said that "besides being in poor taste and disrespectful, the institutionalised mental health care portrayed is history".
"The Perth Royal Show is all about fun for kids - but there is nothing amusing or fun about this experience which risks giving young people the wrong message - that seeking help for mental health problems is scary."
He said he had received many calls from people deeply disappointed and offended by the attraction.
The $1 million exhibit unveiled this week also attracted a backlash from other mental health groups.
The Council of Official Visitors, which supports people in hospital with a mental illness, called it "distasteful and insensitive".
Council head Debora Colvin said a picture in The West Australian _of people pretending to be asylum inmates added to the stigma surrounding mental illness by making fun of people's trauma.
WA Association for Mental Health president Alison Xamon said the exhibit's depiction of mental illness was "unhelpful" and not appropriate for children. People with profound mental health issues might find it distressing.
Images in the "attraction".
Mental Health Minister Helen Morton said the exhibit sent "the wrong message about mental health to the community", in particular to children.
Royal Show spokeswoman Maryanne Shaddick said the exhibit was not about mental health issues and was not intended to cause offence.
It was a haunted house thrill attraction with sophisticated special effects and people should see it before drawing any conclusions.
