I have a diagnosed mental illness.

[DebJ]

132. Forgo, this DUer is PRECISELY the type of person who needs people like you who have the courage to

speak up. Thank you.

Since my son's diagnosis, I have often brought up the topic of neurobiological brain disorders (NBD) and society's treatment of
people with such diagnosis. ... but only to people who do not interact with my son, except for close family and friends, so that he does not pay the terrible prices extracted by so many in our society. My son and I live many miles away from each other these days, so I can and do speak freely with most people I interact with these days. Quite often they are extremely shocked when I initiate the topic and openly discuss it, at as great a length as they will allow. You see, I am supposed to feel ashamed and embarrassed. My son is supposed to feel ashamed and embarrassed. Just like when I was a child, people in wheelchairs or otherwise disabled were considered an embarrassment, unless perhaps they were vets. And I say perhaps. The more I speak up, the less uncomfortable people become with the topic, and the less uncomfortable with their own ignorance, and the more interested and educated they become. And the less fearful, and vengeful, and bigoted.

This is the battle we must fight, for decades to come. Decades of unnecessary hell inflicted upon those with NBDs who, by the very nature of NBDs, often find themselves in an unjustified hell. Disgusting. Ignorant. Uncivil. Ridiculous. Like every civil rights fight throughout the ages, but this will be the hardest battle ever, the longest battle, the nastiest one of all. And it will only be won with people who speak up. And it will not be won with people whose attitudes mirror MADems. "Don't get educated, just get loud." And disrespectful. Succumb to your fear and shout and penalize as many as you can to make YOURSELF feel better. This is the attitude that means those who know better must continue to speak up, no matter the intolerance and the vehemence and fear that is exemplified by the other party. It's a hard thing to do, knowing that whatever progress you make will only be inches of progress when millions of miles of progress must be achieved.

This country's justice system was predicated on the notion that as a society, we are better off to allow a guilty man to go free now and again, rather than imprison the innocent. But our society can't as yet apply that same principle to those with an NBD.... no, just 'guilty' is all they scream. And, most of all, they can't understand that a diagnosis of an NBD does not mean a certain black-and-white status quo. Saying someone has an NBD (that we improperly call 'mental' illness) is like saying someone is blonde... white blonde? dirty blonde? reddish blonde? How many shades of 'blonde' are there? Bipolar is a SPECTRUM. There is such an enormous difference in the impact upon one individual versus another it is staggering to contemplate.

Once again, I must say thank you Barack for the brain research project. We may never get the knowledge we need, because for sure there are many factors that cause such things, but at least, there is a beginning. Science and logic will be applied, instead of a medieval fear.