This letter is in reference to a letter from Sue Abderholden, executive director National Alliance on Mental Illness of Minnesota, titled “Walk spotlights an unseen disease.”

Mental illness is not an illness, it is a collective noun.

The walk was for all those who have faced stigma, injustice and discrimination due to mental illness — due to ignorance about mental illnesses.

Hopefully, one day that ignorance will dissolve.

Harold A. Maio

retired mental health editor

Fort Myers, Fla.