Mentally ill lead fulfilling lives

I’m horrified by the Florida school mass murder for the same reasons as everyone else, but an additional reason causes me great pain. Like the accused murderer, I, too, have mental illnesses. Once more, the mentally ill will be stigmatized, and some won’t seek the care they need for fear of being labeled.

The Dispatch is better than any other newspaper in any other city where I’ve lived about printing positive articles concerning those coping with mental illness. I’m proud of Columbus for consistently passing ADAMH levies and of Nationwide Children’s Hospital for building an addition devoted to behavioral health. However, we still hear far too much about the mentally ill who are unable to live successful, constructive lives and far too little about those who are productive, contributing members of society.

Despite inherited bipolar disorder and acquired PTSD, I graduated from high school and college summa cum laude. In fact, I was the top student in my freshman class at Ohio State University.

I taught junior- and senior-high English and Spanish before working in an employment agency, a stock brokerage firm and a bank, among other places. While employed, I paid my way to spend three working vacations as a missionary in Nicaragua. Now retired, I prepare food for the homeless, serve in a food pantry, knit for charity and tutor in an elementary school.

I’m not writing this letter to brag. I want the general public to recognize that not everyone who is mentally ill is a mass murderer, or drug or sex addict, etc. We might not be as newsworthy, but those of us with mental illnesses living full, normal lives outnumber the violent and addicted.

I also want those with mental illnesses, especially the young, to be aware of the possibilities for their lives. In my case Annie Sullivan, who was a patient in a mental institution before becoming the teacher of Helen Keller, gave me hope and inspiration.

Carol Ellis Columbus