Two events captured my attention this week.
First, a pro basketball player announced he is gay. While he is relatively unknown, at least to me, he is the first active athlete to do this. Ground-breaking certainly. I respect his decision to open about his happy lifestyle. I applaud him. He deservedly received significant and important support.
Second, Catherine Zeta Jones entered hospital for treatment of bipolar disorder. I’m not one to pay much attention to the travails of celebrities so I dismissed this as another entering some kind of rehabilitation program.
Yesterday, I learned it was actually for treatment of her bipolar disorder. I am not sure how this became public, whether she issued a public statement or not. Still, I’m glad that it is public now. At that same time, it saddens me that no outpouring of support seemed to follow this.
These announcements raised a question in my overactive brain (at this point in any case).
Do people with mental illness need to be more public, make announcements about their life with these range of illnesses, make it a part of the public agenda? In much the same way, the gay community is doing. A particular example is the debate, mostly positive, over gay marriage in the United States.
Again, I point out that I am Canadian. This is a non-issue in my country. In fact, it was legalized across the country in 2005. And the world didn’t end. So called traditional marriage has not been threatened or diminished.
I wonder, no I believe, accepting, understanding, supporting and treating mental issue should be a civil rights issue. Plain and simple. Couching mental illness as a matter of equality, in particular, makes good sense to me. This would change the conversation about mental illness; frame it in a much different way.
Canada is a very pluralistic, culturally diverse nation. Not perfect, but multiculturalism has long been a source of pride for Canadians. However, a prejudice, spoken or not, exists about mental illness. I can’t comment with certainty about America but anecdotal evidence indicate it the same south of the border.
How many people with bipolar disorder or depressive illness have been reluctant to bring this to the attention of potential employers? The fear, of course, is that they wouldn’t be hired if the employer thought this rendered them unreliable, would cause poor judgement and frequent absences. And I very much doubt that anyone would divulge a history of hospitalisation.
How many of us are reluctant to be forthright about mental illness when meeting a new person. I’m not advocating that we introduce ourselves as having bipolar disorder. But a natural point in a growing relationship would arise when this would seem appropriate.
I am quite open about living with bipolar disorder and I like to believe that I not bothered by others knowing. I have to admit I find myself in situations when I pull back from this. Protecting myself. Not wanting to have to again explain that when my medication is effective I lead a relatively normal life. I can contribute to society.
At times, I am just fatigued by the prospect.
To remove the stigma surrounding mental illness, it’s time to continue, encourage and contribute to an open, honest conversation about society’s views. We need to keep pushing for progressive, positive thinking and change. Framing this as another civil rights issue, an equality of opportunity issue would change the debate.
This is my opinion. Maybe, I’m dreaming under a rainbow. But maybe this is an appropriate strategy. I can’t predict if this change will happen and if it does be effective. I believe it deserves consideration.
The onus on those of us with a mental illness is to be public, heighten awareness, push hard for action. Let us be open. Let us be courageous.
The stigma remains. We need to find effective ways to put this behind us. We deserve equality. It’s time.
It’s a responsibility that we need to take on.
bipolar circus 