#GetSplitOffNetflix is all over Twitter right now and people are furious over M. Night Shamalan’s ‘Split’, due to the misrepresentation of people diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder. There is now a petition that is calling for Netflix to stop streaming the movie. Split follows James McAvoy as a man suffering from dissociative identity disorder with 24 split personalities. The movie had great success when it released, with many people claiming it to be Shaymalan’s greatest work. Split is not current streaming on Netflix in the United States and the petition on change.org made by user Kairos Collaborative has almost reached it’s goal of 1,500 signatures, the petition is currently at 1,147. Here is the description of the petition below and some tweets that uses #GetSplitOffNetflix:
“Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a coping mechanism developed in response to intense, repetitive childhood trauma. This disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more personality states, or alters. The disruption in identity involves marked discontinuity in sense of self and sense of agency, accompanied by related alterations in affect, behavior, consciousness, memory, perception, cognition, and/or sensory-motor functioning.
In the movie Split, written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, a man with dissociative identity disorder is portrayed as a predator. This movie inaccurately represents the disorder in many ways; over-exaggerating the rarity of the disorder, insinuating that those impacted are capable of complete physical metamorphosis, and, most importantly, highlighting the false stigma created in Hollywood, introduced by films like Psycho, that people with DID are more likely to be violent, or will in some way inflict harm onto others. In fact, those with the disorder, as with any mental health condition, are more likely to be victimized than to be perpetrators.
The issue with these depictions, especially with ones as violent as Split, is that they act as many people’s first, and often only exposure to people with dissociative identity disorder. Endless stories pour from the DID community of stigma that this film alone has created within their lives; people asking systems “which alter is the beast” or “are any of them going to hurt me” are direct influences of the lessons that these depictions force into the minds of those uneducated about dissociative disorders. The implications of this stigma are very real. Socially, we are alienated and vilified. Those with DID fear opening up to their peers about the struggles that their disorder causes within them, due to the stigma Split has brought surround DID into popular culture. We are more likely to run into financial distress if our medical history is publicized, which, in turn, prevents more people from speaking openly about their experiences, at fear of facing repercussions from one’s place of employment. This is not because DID innately makes anyone unable to preform basic tasks of functioning, but because of the stigma and subsequent dehumanization that these films never fail to intensify.
This petition is aimed at Netflix, Inc., who currently airs Split on the streaming platform in select countries, giving readily available access to the heavily dehumanizing stigma that this movie creates. The petition is not from one person- or a single collective of people- but from the dissociative identity disorder community at large, and any one who considers themselves to be an advocate to those with mental illnesses. We need to decide where to draw the line on entertainment media, and vastly under-represented minority groups that struggle to be seen in the first place is a good place to start.”
Sinful Horror 
I suffer with DID. I been under doctor care since I been 27. We didn’t know I was suffering with it after my mother killed my father. I had personallies for years changing over the years. By the time I turn 36 I learn to control it and more open with my doctor and I talk about it. I haven’t had any problems in over 15 years. I am now 50. Only problem I have wanting to hurt myself but I reach out for help. I will be not watching this movie because I am afraid of all my hard work my go down the drain. I have seen it listed on cable here in the USA. I refused to watch it.
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