I am schizophrenic. I’ve been schizophrenic for 35 years since I was 19 and I’m 56 now. A big issue with us is stigma because people are afraid of us which we do not want. And I hate to say it but I will say something that I said on these forums about 5 years ago.
When I see someone walking down the street who is talking to himself or raving at invisible people or talking to his voices who is more than likely schizophrenic it scares me. I’m sorry but it just does. To see a grown, adult man (or woman) who doesn’t know what they are doing makes me nervous. We do not want to be seen as dangerous or the stereotypical “unpredictable” label that hounds us. But passing a wild-eyed, disheveled person who I do not know, on the street who is six feet tall and weighs 210 lbs and gives out a vibe that says, “Do not look at me the wrong way”. And you know if you accidentally catch his eye he might misinterpret as a threat. And that’s what some of my fellow tenants are like and it makes me nervous. This is the “normies” perspective.
So maybe this is an insight on us and our so-called “normie” sisters and brothers. I am not excusing them from the treatment I get lately and I am not giving them a free pass to bait us and make us mad, but it’s just in some ways, whether we like it or not a lot of us are a little different than the average bloke.
Anyways, hell, who am I to judge the schizophrenics on the streets? I spent 8 months locked up in the loony bin. I don’t exactly have the market cornered on sanity. Hell, last night I thought I was Smokey the Bear for 3 1/2 hours and it was my duty to snuff out the cigarettes out of 25 peoples mouths who I passed on the streets in a mile radius in my neighborhood while simultaneously talking in a loud, whiny, sing-song voice and telling them, “Only you can prevent forest fires” It took me two hours to finally realize that I was more closer to being like Boo Boo bear. But if I don’t get beat up or killed here and I find a new place and I move out, at least I will have learned some valuable lessons.