Abdi İbrahim Otsuka and Bilim Virüsü launched the #NoToLinguisticDiscrimination movement to prevent stigma in language of mental illness and raise awareness of the destructive effects of language.

50 high school and university students participated in the program we organized in March – April 2021 and became ‘NoToLinguisticDiscrimination  Ambassadors’. Young people who had been trained for two months were involved in the circle of sharing and creativity workshops.

Pedagogical workshops were organized in the step ‘Sharing Circle’ with our Ambassadors with the purpose of ‘bringing awareness into action’ and ‘developing communication abilities in the areas difficult to be talked about’.

Specialized psychologists also joined the Sharing Circle and closely followed the workshops. NoToLinguisticDiscrimination Ambassadors created 44 original projects in the areas such as videos, images, choirs, poems, psychological process scenarios, mobile applications, theater games with the purpose of creating solutions for ‘the change in language’.

With the program NoToLinguisticDiscrimination , the Ambassadors initiated a movement to change the language and behaviors that alienate individuals experiencing mental illnesses and that cause stigmatization. The young people reached 40 thousand people in 2 months with their messages that they shared on their social media accounts with the hashtag NoToLinguisticDiscrimination to prevent stigmatization.

Ambassadors who completed the programNoToLinguisticDiscrimination qualified to receive a certificate.

We lead the change in language by saying NoToLinguisticDiscrimination