seraphina Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 The town I live in has several community boards and only two I visit regularly. One requires real names and while I do post on there often I will admit that I censor myself a bit. We also have a anonymous board that I also frequent and there I am a little more vocal, mostly because the anonymity brings out the morons. Anyhow long story short an organization that helps connect people with mental illnesses with services and such helped a group of clients move into the city I live in. The organization doesn't pay the rent, the residents get government housing vouchers. Now apparently the group didn't get the right permits when they opened a support office. Blah blah blah. Public outcry of basically we don't want the crazies here. When the truth is all the city can do is say no to the office, they can't legally make the residents leave. Ok so there has been whining on both boards. Luckily a few people have stood up for the residents explaining how important it is and how much better for the community it is to have support services on site. People don't care they just want the new residents to leave. Now on the real name board I got pissed and went off and basically outed myself. One lady emailed me privately and said oh you shouldn't say you have a mental illness because we as women have so many hormonal things going on. I got annoyed and said you may be hormonal but I suffer from x,y,z.. Anyhow because people had to own their words no one really said much else once I said my piece, I guess public embarrassment was too much for the to handle. Onto the other board. Well this one person is going on and on about how the residents need to live elsewhere. They have no right to be in a residential neighborhood. I explained that they have the same legal rights as them but they disagreed saying it was a halfway house and then I explained why it wasn't. So it went back and forth. But finally I am beyond pissed. The person keeps referring to the residents as "mental people". I explained that the residents have mental illnesses and using the term mental was rather rude. Then they said fine "mentally disabled". And then I explained no mentally disabled generally refers to people with various types of mental retardation. And went on to explain that people with mental illnesses have varying degrees of intelligence and that many famous artists and intellectuals suffered from mental illnesses. Ugh. The moron was all pissed and said they would continue to use mental people. And then they said mental people shouldn't be allowed to live by bars or in areas where drugs are sold, I explained that while some people with mental illnesses have substance abuse issues many do not. Then this person started rambling on about "asbergers" which pissed me off because Asperger's is not a mental illness. And so I corrected this person on that. My frustration is not this one moron, it's the fact that this one idiot represents loads of idiots. There is this total disconnect and ignorance about mental illness and it pisses me off. And then when I try to speak out many of my friends are like hush hush don't say anything. They worry that by speaking out people with think less of me. Which in my opinion is their problem. I am not ashamed of who I am. And if people think less of me because of my issues then so be it. Ok done venting, I just hate ignorance. And i hate the fact that stigmatizing mental illnesses still seems to be social acceptable. UGH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxz16 Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Amen Sister!!! Seriously though it shouldn't be such of a faux pas to talk about especially since there are millions of people in the United States that suffer from mental illnesses. The woman that mentioned you shouldn't say anything about mental illnesses because women have hormones is a freaking dunce. It's not the 1940's, they don't chain the mentally ill up anymore. There should be more education and awareness. Also on that note governments: local, state, and federal should spend more money on research for Mental Illnesses, better facilities for the mentally ill, and should create MORE programs that offer medical counseling and Medications at a free or discounted rate to people without insurances. There are too many mentally ill people on the street that need medications and facilities they're overlooked until they police get them and they end up in a state psych ward. Also a big WTF to those people in your town didn't realize Stepford cities still existed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinkiemarie Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 I have hormonal problems in addition to my MI--seriously bad PMDD...and I can tell you, it ain't the same thing. If some lady is trying to get you to shut up about something you care about because the other ladies have "hormones"...man...that's just an ENTIRELY ridiculous lack of understanding there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gizmo Posted October 18, 2009 Share Posted October 18, 2009 That's why I love crazyboards... there's no punches pulled. We're all just crazy. And that's ok. I tell my hubby at least twice a week, "Well, you know, I *am* crazy." Drives him nuts, but lets call the pink elephant a pink elephant and get it friggin over with. I'm crazy, I take mental meds, I have a pdoc, I've been to the nuthouse (twice), I have a tdoc, I have mood episodes, I have anxiety, I have paranoia, and I see and hear things that aren't there more often than I care to admit to anyone. But my MI is only a tiny sliver of who I am. But it occupies such a large portion of my time. I don't get it. Why do people fixate on the MI and nothing else? I feel more at easy saying these things to my family and friends. They are not so keen on such phrasing. Maybe some day I will be so free that I will just introduce myself with the above paragraph to strangers. Until then, keep cool, you did the best you could with the circumstance you had. We start changing the world one step at a time, you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seraphina Posted October 18, 2009 Author Share Posted October 18, 2009 Yeah so I ignored the one person who was annoying me but stupid me wanted to read their comment UGH. So according to them because asperger's is in the DSM is it automatically a mental illness. Seriously people are stupid, like I really hope that person hasn't procreated because often I think ignorance and stupidity are far more dangerous to society than my mental illness. Anyhow I then asked them if Alzheimer's was a mental illness, if dyslexia was a mental illness, etc. But that is it no more posting in that topic. I've made my point. Everyone else seems to agree the person is an idiot. I just have this sick desire to keep throwing their stupidity in their face, but it's only because they keep trying to appear more knowledgeable. Doesn't help I feel this mania coming on and I am getting a bit mean. I need to stop though. So I will try. Especially since I will probably say the wrong thing at some point and look really dumb. Ok venting done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stickler Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 ignorance and stupidity are far more dangerous to society than my mental illness. HELL YEAH! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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