Stigma No Longer Troubles

I wrestled with the stigma demon for years. Part of me felt like less then human due to my mental illness. I thought people saw me just as a disease not a human.

Things were harder in the late 80's early 90's when it finnally dawned on me that I had this so called brain disease. I hated myself and the world around me which was constantly portraying people like me in a negative fashion. I could not laugh and say to myself "They say what they say because they are ignorant."

I got into the face of anyone who I thought was stigmatizing me and my fellow brain diseased compatriots. I went up to several professors while in college and told them that they were dehumanizing me and other people with brain diseases. I told them that they would not talk in such a way when it came to people of color or people with cancer or whatever. One of the professors actually became my advisor.

Today I am thinking of stigma since I am wearing a no stigma teeshirt. I bought it at the PMHCA (Pennsylvania Mental Health Consumer Association) conference. I got it for five dollars since it was dirty. I wear it and think to myself, thank God for the movement. Thank God for all of us speaking out and saying stigma stinks, we are human beings. Treat us as such.

Today I can watch a movie that makes fun of mental illnesses. What is wrong with laughing at oneself or the situation. Some would say there is nothing funny about mental illness but as a person dealing with such issues I find it a hell of a lot easier to just laugh. This does not mean I have no pride in myself. It just means I will not succomb to stigma.