This is why I don't get when people argue with me about mentally ill people being stereotyped violent. Mentally ill people are actually more likely to be the victim of violence than the perpetrator, so where did this stereotype come from? I didn't appear out of thin air and it's reinforced everything someone violent or illogical is dismissed as crazy.

I actually resent having mental illness equated with these things. Even though my mental illness is server and I don't function "properly" I wouldn't have it cured if someone paid me. For me, my mental illnesses are just as much a part of me as my dyspraxia, my blackness, my queerness. Do those things make parts of my life less pleasant? Yeah, but I'm not going to head out and bleach my skin either.

I know that people who think about -isms in what we say are often derided as being holier than thou. I think that's a mistake. I believe that most people don't want to hurt other people and if educated on the effects of their words, they just might change. If I didn't have some small level of faith in humanity, I would have given up long ago.