Novelty of research: Open your minds to taboos!

For centuries it has been considered a taboo to talk about illnesses or chronic mental or physical disorders. However, in the last few years it has been observed that arts and literature are trying to pave the way for a more open minded and equal world. Some examples of this attempt are books that describe such differences or that are written by people who have been diagnosed with such distinctivenesses, like : a) “Born on a Blue Day” by Daniel Tammet, which is an autobiographical novel describing the diagnosed-with-autism author ’s life, b) “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon, which is a postmodern detective story that informs us  in a unique way about the autistic  15-year-old Christopher Boone’s life.

There are also books that enable young people to be aware of such problems, for example: a) “Everything, Everything”, by Nicola Yoon, which is a young adult’s fiction book that depicts the life of a girl diagnosed with a severe dermatological problem that prevents her from coming into contact with anything that is not sanitized, b) “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green, a novel that has as protagonists two teenagers who suffer from cancer, c) “Wonder” by R. J. Palacio (Raquel Jaramillo),  a book describing the first school year of August, a boy who due to a disease has a disfigured face. And, of course, the list goes on.

In conclusion, we should be proud of the improvement that has been done in this domain and, of course, let’s hope that similar changes will take place in other fields as well.