Ever since I was younger I have always had an affinity with Martin Luther King, Jr. and his message even though I was only 3 when he was killed.
It might be that as a person diagnosed with SZ I understand the plight of other people.
Racism got started by looking at a person’s skin color and stereotyping them.
I think about this now because of how people with SZ are stereotyped.
The fact is at 22 I had a minor breakdown. At 27 I had a relapse after a 3-month drug holiday failed.
I identify as a person with SZ because of having had these two experiences in my life.
A woman in the comments section below a news article I was quoted in wrote that I must be the exception.
To what or whom am I the exception when I’m only being myself?
If a person can’t do what I’ve done or what you’re able to do that’s not the point. Corralling everyone with SZ into the same homogeneous stereotype of what we’re capable of or how we act does a disservice to peers and others alike.
Frankly it upsets me that so-called normal people often don’t have the decency and compassion to really SEE Who We Are–Who Each of Us Is–apart from the SZ.
To deny that people diagnosed with SZ are as unique as our thumbprints is to in effect render us invisible even though we’re standing right in front of other people.
Again it also upsets me that so-called normal people parrot that NO ONE can recover. Why aren’t they taking action to help us recover?
This is at the heart of what drove me to publish my memoir Left of the Dial: every other SZ memoir focused on chronic illness, symptoms, and long-term hell.
The pathology in the memoirs overshadowed the personality of the individuals.
Yes–I wanted to entertain readers not make them depressed.
The whole of success in life lies in SEEING who a person really is on the inside.
If you’re interacting with people and making judgments about them before you get to know them you’re contributing to stigma.
Stigma is a form of mind pollution that has infected human relationships for too long in society.
It’s 2018. MLK must be crying in his grave over how people still treat each other.
Let’s honor Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy by reaching out and getting to know other people.
Let’s SEE.
Left of the Dial 