Columns

If you have a disability whether it is psychiatric or physical, many people might think you're off the hook concerning dealing with ordinary challenges. I am talking about the difficulties that nondisabled people must deal with, such as showing up for work and going to the store to buy a loaf of bread. After all, who would expect someone in a wheelchair or someone with schizophrenia to deal with conducting business and surviving in general?  

If you've been judged incompetent and have been put on conservatorship, it is true that you don't have to deal with any of that. Yet, if you are psychiatrically disabled but continue to handle your own affairs, there are numerous challenges and numerous difficulties--perhaps more so compared to someone who is not disabled and who is making a good living.  

Someone with mental illness who lives with relative independence must deal with the challenges other people deal with, must do so while taking brain-limiting medication, and must do so while at the same time protecting oneself from a relapse triggered by stress.  

People with mental illness need to take some form of medication, or they are possibly not classifiable as having a major psychiatric disorder.  

The medication (if you're talking about antipsychotics) doesn't necessarily make a person dumb, but it does slow a person down, and it also prevents someone from performing at a high energy level at a job or other situation.  

When someone with mental illness lives under his or her own supervision, they are responsible for all of the things that an everyday citizen must deal with. For example, being served a jury summons. Even if one's disability precludes serving on a jury, a medical excuse must be sent in or presented in a timely fashion, and must be done so according to how the court wants it.  

My wife and I were recently rear-ended in our vehicle by an unknown driver. I was responsible for reporting that to police as well as sending an accident report to the DMV.  

People with mental illness must pay rent, must buy groceries, and must prevent overdraft on our measly bank accounts, since overdraft fees could be a huge problem for someone on a fixed income.  

People with mental illness must take out the garbage and recyclables, must prepare food for ourselves, must shower, shave and maintain our teeth. Or, if not done, we must deal with the consequences.  

Additionally, someone with mental illness has to keep all of their prescriptions filled, must keep his or her psychiatric appointments, and must abstain from alcohol and illicit drugs--they don't mix well with medication.  

I am not complaining; that's for sure. I would not trade my situation for that of a person who gets everything done for him or her. If you can not take care of yourself, it is likely you also can not make your own decisions.  

Raising a child for some people with a severe mental illness is out of the question. Some of us do have kids, while others could not handle the stresses of dealing with an infant, a child and then a teenager.  

Thus, even while someone with mental illness must deal with responsibilities, we are denied some of life's good things such as having offspring or having a lot of money.