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Having a disability entails more difficulties than merely posing an obstacle to employment. In the case of a psychiatric illness, most areas of life are affected. Mental illness and being medicated make a number of things harder.  

For example, we can get a relapse, and this includes those who are compliant. Medication compliance doesn't guarantee that we won't return to the hospital. A traumatic event, or a series of events, can destabilize someone with mental illness. Or, a relapse can happen for no discernable reason.  

Once hospitalized, meds may get readjusted due to changes in the brain that might necessitate an increase or decrease in medication, eliminating or adding one type of medication, or adjusting dosages. Stressors can potentially be identified and strategies can be learned to deal with them--or a person's living situation may need to be changed. 

The above assumes that mental health treatment is at its best, rather than merely being an assembly line in which people are admitted, medicated, and released, without accomplishing much. Due to budgetary cuts and the increasing number of ill people who need attention, the latter may occur far too often.  

Employment is harder, especially at a physical type job; psychiatric medication makes it physically harder to move the body. Paranoia interferes with work, and paranoia doesn't entirely go away for people with schizophrenia, even while medicated. We have less physical and mental energy compared to an unimpaired, non-medicated person, and we are more vulnerable on a number of levels. Many with mental illness become acutely ill because of trying to work at a job that is too demanding.  

Difficulty with employment causes financial difficulty. We are left trying to live on Social Security, and this puts most of us below the poverty line. Financial difficulty then becomes difficulty with housing as well as food and transportation.  

It is harder for many persons with mental illness to do something as simple as brushing teeth, or eating right. Numerous persons with mental illness have lost some or all of their teeth. Many are obese. Psych medications can cause rapid and extreme weight gain. This adds additional illnesses, which means additional appointments with doctors, medical procedures, and additional medications to treat medication-induced or weight induced health problems. More medications can then worsen health, even though I am not recommending going off meds. 

Most people with mental illness have a steady stream of appointments. Many have multiple health problems when we get a little older, caused by medication, or caused by the stresses of the condition. 

Not having enough money to live on and living in stressful housing situations are two factors that can be a constant source of suffering and instability for persons who already have a disabling level of mental illness. Being in a bad, codependent, or abusive relationship, or having a series of such relationships, is another source of stress, suffering, and instability. Yet not having a relationship can also be a source of stress, due to a continuous lack of fulfillment.  

In housing situations that are semi-institutional, such as those set aside for disabled people, harassment by neighbors can be a problem. In other low cost, low income housing, you might have to deal with a slumlord who allows problematic tenants into your building--some can be bullies, can have wild parties, or might use intentional intimidation and psychological warfare--or they might be just plain violent.  

In some instances, disabled people are subject to intimidation by the government. Social Security, when they do reviews of income, attempt to frighten beneficiaries into fessing up if their mom bought groceries for them. The Section 8 Housing Authority here in Contra Costa conducts interviews within a booth that has a one way glass on one side so that they can observe, and, on the other side of the booth, has a door with a latch on the outside that can be used to lock a person in. Inspections of rented units are often conducted by gigantic, mean men.  

Economic deprivation, health problems, relationship problems, housing problems, often owning a vehicle in constant need of repairs or owning no vehicle, and the intolerant attitude of society are all things most people with psychiatric disabilities must face. And there is probably more that I haven't thought of.  

Persons with mental illness are challenged enough and sometimes daunted by merely getting out of bed every day, getting dressed, taking medication, and doing whatever routine we currently have. Many of us are trying to make things better for ourselves. It is worthwhile to try to do this, even if it appears that the cards are stacked against us.