I agree with everybody else here. Mary wasn't trying to be flippant or poke fun about schizo. And even if she were, there's making fun in a good way and making fun in a bad way.
My little bro is autistic and though it's hard to be reminded daily that there's lots of things he'll never be able to experience in life, we keep ourselves upbeat by making jokes about it. As his eldest sister, I'd never want im to somehow feel himself somebdoy to be pitied or unable to accept his condition. We've taught him all sorts of autism jokes and our family can take most things in stride by now. We actually encourage outsiders to joke about it, so as to ease them out of the awkwardness of the situation.
Humour can be a step towards acceptance too. =)
And if it's illnesses like schizo you're talking about, well my cousin used to be one for years and he HATED people tip toeing about the subject. MOst of the family schizo jokes were made up by him, as I recall. (All of them really lame. :rolleyes: )
I think what matters is not the irreverence, but the intent. Although I understand what you say about possibly being misunderstood. =)
