Modernised language use

The plan establishes that people struggling with addiction should be treated with respect and that authorities have a special responsibility to meet all people with the same respect. Stigmatizing language in legislation about mental illness and addiction goes against that premise. The plan therefore supports the counter-proposal's demand for modernized language use.

• respectful treatment of addictiondecisive»Människor som fastnat i missbruk ska ha tillgång till den vård« (party programme ↗)“People struggling with addiction shall have access to care”
• authorities' equal treatment»Myndigheter har ett särskilt ansvar att möta alla människor« (party programme ↗)“Authorities have a special responsibility to meet all people”
• against exclusionary norms»De allra flesta människor bryter på ett eller annat sätt mot någon av alla« (party programme ↗)“The vast majority of people violate one way or another some of all”
• mental illness is taken seriously»Stressrelaterade sjukdomar blir allt vanligare och psykisk ohälsa ökar särskilt bland kvinnor och hos unga« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Stress-related illnesses are becoming increasingly common and mental health problems are increasing especially among women and young people”

The plan is based on the conviction that all people have equal worth and wants to remove barriers for people with disabilities to participate in society, with ambitious measures against mental illness. Replacing stigmatizing terms for mental illness and addiction in the legal text follows from that view of humanity. The plan, however, says nothing about the formulation of legal language, which is why confidence is low.

• equal worth of all peopledecisive»För socialdemokratin är övertygelsen om varje människas lika värde grundläggande.« (party programme ↗)“For Social Democracy the conviction that all people have equal worth is fundamental.”
• measures against mental illness»Ambitiösa insatser mot psykisk ohälsa, särskilt bland barn och unga.« (party programme ↗)“Ambitious measures against mental illness, especially among children and young people.”
• removed barriers»Undanröjda hinder för personer med funktionsnedsättning att delta i samhällslivet.« (party programme ↗)“Removed barriers for people with disabilities to participate in society.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan states that stigmatization around mental ill-health needs to be broken and that mental health shall be as prioritized as physical health. It also wants to abolish all forms of discrimination and build addiction care on science and established experience. Replacing outdated and stigmatizing terms in legislation, as the counter-proposal requires, follows from that stance.

• break stigmatization of ill-healthdecisive»Stigmatiseringen som finns kring psykisk ohälsa behöver brytas.« (party programme ↗)“The stigmatization that exists around mental ill-health needs to be broken.”
• mental health prioritized equally»Miljöpartiet vill skapa ett samhälle där psykisk hälsa är lika prioriterad som fysisk hälsa.« (party programme ↗)“The Greens want to create a society where mental health is as prioritized as physical health.”
• counter discrimination»Därför arbetar vi för att avskaffa alla former av diskriminering,« (party programme ↗)“Therefore we work to abolish all forms of discrimination,”
• knowledge-based addiction care»sammanhållen beroendevård som bygger på vetenskap och beprövad erfarenhet« (party programme ↗)“integrated addiction care that is built on science and established experience”

The plan commits to combating structures that oppress or discriminate and to doing more against discrimination, and it wants to strengthen support for people with mental ill-health. Replacing outdated and stigmatising concepts in legislation aligns with those commitments. The plan says nothing about the language use of legislation, so the position is derived and uncertain.

• combat oppressive structuresdecisive»Vi bekämpar alla strukturer, formella och informella, som förtrycker eller diskriminerar människor.« (party programme ↗)“We combat all structures, formal and informal, that oppress or discriminate against people.”
• stricter work against discrimination»Mer måste göras mot diskriminering. Vi vill stärka myndigheternas arbete mot diskriminering och höja ersättningen till dem som utsatts, samt lägga till kön och funktionsnedsättning som hatbrottsgrunder.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“More must be done against discrimination. We want to strengthen authorities' work against discrimination and increase compensation for those who have been discriminated against, and add gender and disability as grounds for hate crimes.”
• strengthened support for mental ill-health»Stödet för personer med psykisk ohälsa måste förbättras, inte minst för unga.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Support for people with mental ill-health must be improved, not least for young people.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan establishes that the right to care is as self-evident for mental illness as for physical illness, that addiction shall be met with evidence-based care and that prejudices shall be fought. To replace outdated and stigmatizing terms in the law text follows from that view and from the principle that the individual's dignity must not be violated. The plan does not, however, directly address legal language, why the position is derived.

• mental health equalizeddecisive»Rätten till vård och behandling är lika självklar för både fysiska och psykiska sjukdomar.« (party programme ↗)“The right to care and treatment is as self-evident for both physical and mental illnesses.”
• dignity inviolable»Den enskildes värdighet och integritet får inte kränkas.« (party programme ↗)“The individual's dignity and privacy must not be violated.”
• fight prejudices»Sverige ska vara ett öppet och tolerant land. Fördomar och diskriminering ska bekämpas.« (party programme ↗)“Sweden shall be an open and tolerant country. Prejudices and discrimination shall be fought.”
• addiction is a care issue»Beroende ska bekämpas med en fungerande, evidensbaserad vård.« (party programme ↗)“Addiction shall be fought with functioning, evidence-based care.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The party programme emphasises the importance of working against the prejudices and feelings of shame that characterise attitudes to mental illness, and is based on the idea that every human being has the same inviolable value regardless of functional variations. Stigmatising language in the law works against this. Therefore, replacing outdated terminology is in line with the plan's view of humanity.

• counteract stigma around mental ill healthdecisive»Särskilt viktigt är att arbeta mot de fördomar och skamkänslor som i allt för stor utsträckning präglar attityderna till psykiska sjukdomar.« (party programme ↗)“It is particularly important to work against the prejudices and feelings of shame that to a far too great extent characterise attitudes to mental illness.”
• equal value in social policy»Socialpolitiken ska levandegöra att varje enskild människa har samma absoluta värde oavsett ålder, etniskt eller socialt ursprung, sexuell identitet, religion eller kön.« (party programme ↗)“Social policy shall demonstrate that every individual human being has the same absolute value regardless of age, ethnic or social origin, sexual identity, religion or gender.”
• no negative differential treatment»Personer med funktionsnedsättning riskerar att i olika sammanhang bli negativt särbehandlade. Detta är diskriminering och kan aldrig tolereras.« (party programme ↗)“People with disabilities risk being negatively treated differently in various contexts. This is discrimination and can never be tolerated.”
• attitude change is needed»Det handlar inte bara om lagstiftning utan även om opinionsbildning och attitydförändringar.« (party programme ↗)“It is not just about legislation but also about opinion formation and attitude change.”

The plan takes no explicit position on what the committee actually decided — often because the committee's reason was procedural. The stance is derived and fully cited, but it does not show the party broke a commitment.

The plan says nothing about the use of language in legislation on mental illness and addiction. The closest principle is that politics should solve the problems that only politics can solve and address societal problems pragmatically for what they are, rather than spending effort on conceptual reforms. On this principle, the counter-proposal's requirement falls outside what the plan wants to prioritize.

• politics' limited taskdecisive»Det är inte ett löfte om att politiken kan lösa alla problem.« (party programme ↗)“It is not a promise that politics can solve all problems.”
• pragmatic reform will»Det kräver en pragmatisk reformvilja och en förmåga att se samhällsproblem för vad de är.« (party programme ↗)“It requires pragmatic reform will and an ability to see societal problems for what they are.”

The plan says nothing about the statutory language's use of concepts for mental ill-health and addiction. The nearest principle is opposition to anxious political correctness and the requirement that policy should be based on science and factual problem descriptions rather than linguistic rewordings. On the basis of that principle, the demand for special linguistic modernization is rejected, while at the same time the plan wants to strengthen efforts against mental ill-health in substance.

• against political correctnessdecisive»Och framförallt en ängslig politisk korrekthet som gör att vi ej pratar om de uppenbara problemen samt orsakerna till dem.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“And above all an anxious political correctness that means we do not talk about the obvious problems and the causes of them.”
• substance over language politics»Vi tror på vetenskap och inser att förvirrande genusteorier får förödande konsekvenser när de omsätts i praktiken.« (2022 manifesto ↗)“We believe in science and recognize that confusing gender theories have devastating consequences when implemented in practice.”
• efforts against mental ill-health»Stärka insatserna för att förbättra ungas psykiska hälsa« (2022 manifesto ↗)“Strengthen efforts to improve young people's mental health”