Throughout this website it is hoped that you will be able to learn about the different peoples experiences of various aspects of their lives. It is therefore important to introduce to you the concept of self-definition.

Self Definition allows an individual to pick and choose whether or not they define into a liberation campaign regardless of how others view them. For example an individual may self-define as having a mental health problem such as Bipolar disorder without necessarily having to have a piece of paper from the GP saying that this is the case. This is especially important for health issues such as mental ill health and disability when it can take months, if not years to receive a diagnosis and for some this might not be possible. Having the ability to say ‘I am Bipolar’ allows people to understand their own experiences and manage them without having to wait for a professional to tell them what they already know. This is the same for all of the liberation campaigns, if someone has experiences racism because of the way that they look then it is up to them if they want to define as Black it’s not up to others to say that your not as black as me. Similarly it is not for some one to say you’re not Gay because you’re not camp enough or that you’re not a lesbian because you don’t ‘look’ like one.

This is what self-definition is all about, the ability to define into a liberation campaign without anyone telling you can or can’t and no requirements to go through a formal procedure to prove you are or aren’t.