Just the other week, a professional safety person who runs a LinkedIn safety site in Australia, (a person who supposedly supports mental health) replied to a comment/s made about a person who suffers from bipolar. This person who has bipolar at times comes across angry and feels euphoric (which makes them say things that others feel derogative)...the comment from the expert safety person was "just because you suffer from bipolar, it does not make it OK to act they way you do"...
What a personal insult to that person who seems to be labeled as one who wants to ACT that way! and this person is giving advice to organisations...
Note- Watch the movie Mr Jones with Richard Gere to understand what it can be like living with such a condition...
I want readers to think about the comment made for second.
A person is suffering from a condition that they have trouble controlling...and this so called expert safety person, who seems to lack any understanding about bipolar symptoms; such as feeling irritable or agitated which drives other secondary issues such as aggression, deems it OK to say such a negative comment.
Imagine telling a person who suffers from cancer not to blame cancer for their lose of weight...or...telling a person who suffers from Tourette syndrome; "just because you suffer from Tourette's, does not make it OK to act they way you do"...
We have a long way to go in understanding symptoms...a long long way.