You can say that stigma and discrimination is a matter of semantics,but that is not true for mental illness. There are no laws against having a stigma against persons with mental illness. There are laws against discrimination and hate crimes. And that is the point. For people with an illness it extremely helpful when we share and educate to seperate the the management of the illness and the obstacles presented by stigma and self-stigma. To read, see and hear people on the many internet blogs describe their illness and the responses like, "OMG, that's me too". That is us helping us.
But when we address the issues of our cultural and political reaction (or lack of it) to the epidemic that is mental illness. It is very appropriate to use the words discrimation and hate crimes. As a group in general the afflicted, parents and family we are very empathetic and docile. The HIV movement did not come to such a rapid improvement in treatment without an aggressive coordinated effort. This resulted in such an increase in funding for research. I would go further and suggest that mental illness and drug addiction are mirror one another in the way our society reacts to them. The only difference is the leadership (politicians) get votes by continuing suggest they will win the "War on drugs".
I continually here that one in four persons experience mental illness. That together with family and friends amounts to a large number of voters. We ask for funds and improvements. When we begin to demand our rights to be protected against discrimination and hate crimes then we may see a reduction in the numbers imprisoned, homeless, without access to services, without jobs, etc. No, I think discrimination and hate crimes are appropriate words in a society that is able to turn away from persons with mental illness