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Darwin's "survival of the fittest" has been twisted into a cultural monstrosity. Social Darwinism as a scientific philosophy, although discredited a very long time ago, has remnants in mainstream culture that shape most people's attitudes.  

This, in terms of ignorance, is right up there with some people's religious beliefs leading them to produce as many offspring as possible. And it is a machismo thing among some men that they ought to spread their "seed" as widely as possible.  

Many people pride themselves on the "good stock" they believe they are. They might never consider that the reason they are healthy or even alive could largely be due to improved conditions modern technology has provided (such as good sanitation, a food and water supply free of parasites, hot and cold running water, heating, air conditioning, vaccines, antibiotics, numerous diseases having been eradicated, and so on…)  

Many people believe that having a biological difference is equivalent to being an unworthy human being. This is one reason why many are bigoted against people who rely on artificial assistance to survive (such as someone born with spina bifida, someone born deaf or blind, or perhaps someone who relies on psychiatric medication.)  

The above-described perception has nothing to do with reality. We're all made of the same stuff, and by virtue of being here, we have passed the genetic fitness test. If our ancestors have survived long enough to bring us into existence, something obviously worked. If we believe we have a "genetic detect," then so what? An errant band of atoms in our DNA doesn't make us unworthy human beings.  

We should not believe that we are weak products of nature if we rely on something manmade in order to function or survive. Our ancestors died much younger than modern day Americans for a multitude of reasons. If it wasn't for modern advances, ninety percent of us probably wouldn't be here.  

If we have a difficulty in life, and if there is a thing that can help, but we turn it down because of the perception that it makes us weak, this is pure foolishness. If there is a thing that can provide an advantage or that can amend a disadvantage, how foolish it is to turn it down! 

What about the runner in Australia, Oscar Pistorius, who kept winning footraces with prosthetic lower legs? For the moment let's filter out the scandal in which he shot his girlfriend. As a runner competing and winning with a disability--this is admirable.  

When I was in my twenties and early thirties and was dating (before I got married), there were a number of prospective partners who would not consider a relationship with me because of my disability. I can understand someone wanting to be with a good provider, which I couldn't be. However, there were some others who simply were bigoted, and who believed that mental illness makes someone unfit.  

I sometimes ran across the same thing in the job market. Society has outmoded and unscientific ideas about who is believed to be fit and who isn't. Ironically, these warped and ignorant concepts were spawned from evolutionary science.  

Mental Illness doesn't make someone defective. This is just the biology that the universe has handed to us. Where we go with it and what we accomplish or don’t accomplish in spite of it is up to us. We should never stop respecting and liking ourselves just because someone ignorantly believes being mentally ill is an indication of inferiority.  

This ignorant view of mentally ill people (which, by the way, is prevalent) is one of the reasons why many people afflicted with mental illness resist their diagnosis and cannot be convinced to become compliant with treatment. It is also a reason why some treatment practitioners have treated us as less than fully-fledged human beings. 

This issue is important to think about since it is a barrier against persons with mental illness having a good outcome.