Are you fat?
Are you skinny?
Are you blonde?
Are you brunette?
Are you a ginger?
Is your voice high?
Is your voice low?
Are you black?
Are you white?
Are you some other ethnicity?
Do you belong to a religion?
Do you not belong to a religion?
Everybody is judged over some aspect of what they look like, what they sound like, who they hang with, what they do, and so on, every minute of every day. This has been the case since time immemorial and it will never change. Suck it up, buttercups. Life - it’s not for the timid.
I think the best advice is not to tell people until they get to know you well. You should wait until they like you for you. Then they may be more likely to accept it.
I don’t tell the majority of people that i have Schizophrenia. I keep it to myself. I don’t trust the majority of people. They will try to use it against me or will do what people have done to you - refused to talk to me anymore. It is an unfortunate stereotype and people with schizophrenia are violent.
It’s hard when you’re young because you care what people think about you a lot. As you get older you care less and less what others think about you. This is my experience. Also I wouldn’t recommend telling people you aren’t really close with that you have SZ. People should get to know what kind of person you are first and then you can tell them.
Only my parents and my brother and one friend really know about my sza. Outside of that, i don’t know how much the extended family knows. As far as outside people, i don’t really tell people, mostly because it just doesn’t come up. I interact very little so i have very little opportunity to come off as a weirdo. I’ve never really dealt with any stigma though.
I’m open about my diagnosis, but I also make sure people know they’re free to ask questions about it.
I’ve only had one bad/misguided reaction, and I refuse to let that ruin it for me.
Lying and saying it’s bipolar is a dishonest alternative. I would not be happy if someone did that to me, I’d be hurt that they didn’t trust me more.
… And I fear bipolars more than schizophrenics, by the way. Can’t deal with those changing moods.