A March 4 story about singer Elton John’s Kitchener concert included an inappropriate and insensitive reference to patients at Homewood Health Centre. The Record regrets the words used and apologizes for the lapse in judgment. Link
Here’s a letter to the editor that contains the offending line:
It was with great concern that we at Homewood Health Centre read a comment in the March 4 Record article, Enchanted Audience Takes Yellow Brick Road, regarding the Monday night Elton John concert, specifically: “Other than a few people in oversized novelty glasses and one Homewood escapee in a cape and rocket-shaped hat.”
This, we feel, is a derogatory remark regarding patients at Homewood. It suggests the ages-old stigma that still haunts people and their families who must cope with the debilitating effects of mental illness.
It smacks of the discrimination that thousands of Canadians who are mentally ill must confront daily: comparisons to clowns or circus acts.
Ric Ament
Director, Marketing and Communications
Homewood Health Centre
Guelph
One Comment
Seems to me the complainant is worried about the clothing descriptions, which are very clearly — to anyone who is paying attention — Elton John riffs.
If I were them, I’d be concerned about “escapee”, but the language of their complaint does not indicate that they noticed that at all…