Well, to be honest, I didn't. What happened was the education on mental health changed and it became closer to normal than anything. The things that people are scared of is the unpredictability of mental illness. I am sure that those that have been educated have become more understanding.
But, there are those steeped in ablism that they see nothing but a diagnosis. I have had people in my life who were more understanding than that of my own family. You see, I am at least a third generation mental health "client". My grandfather was diagnosed with bipolar 1 and my uncle was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Both on my mother's side. What caught me unawares was that I was told as a youngster that it only hit the men in the family. So, when they told me I was mentally ill, I was like, "No Way!". This didn't do me any good at the time though.
It took years and laws enacted to give dignity to the mentally ill. There is a lot out there that criminalizes it, that can be frustrating and embarrassing, so you try to hide it.
Well, the more I tried to hide it, the more discriminatory my family became. My mom would out me in public if she thought I was getting too much attention. My grandmother, I think, was my first conservator.
With HIPAA there are still loopholes. The main contributor of the diagnosis of the mentally ill "client" is now based off of what they call "collateral". This now endangers the mentally ill more because now, it only takes one. Before this, it would take at least two people to have concerns over someone who "might be" mentally ill.
The loopholes include- Public health (such as reporting to a state health department or the CDC) Medical research. Workers compensation. Legal proceedings and law enforcement purposes.
Seems to me that that "collateral" just got bigger.
Don't get me wrong, there are now laws in place that can make your "collateral" ineligible to have a say in your treatment. They may have put you in the hospital, but you have the decision of who you allow to be a part of that treatment. To the fullest extent of the law, but when you are on conservatorship, that extent only reaches so far.
Yet, things are way different now than they were 35 years ago. The harder I would try to separate myself from my "collateral" the more the grip would tighten. So far, that hasn't happened to me in over 15 years. I have been in remission and also not a focus of my living family. You see, that's when I lost my mother. She had me arrested when I would become closer to sanity. They would keep me for three days and not see anything, then they would keep me for two more weeks, nothing. So they would be forced to let me go. This happened so frequently that when it stopped I was stymied. I was like, "wow". I'm not getting 5150'd anymore. And now I am stable and living a close to normal life. I wouldn't change my circumstances though. I live in a one room flat and share two bathrooms and a kitchen. But to me, it is a part of heaven that broke off just for me.
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