Christ, I made that saying up about 25 years ago. And it’s still true today.
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Yay! The saying has been independently verified! 
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I send lots of mixed messages to my family and friends and jobs.
I think my mother’s denial of the full extent of my mental illness/es is, at least in part, a projection of her denial of her own mental illnesses, which she still refuses to acknowledge as a result of her victim mentality. Blame perpetuates misery. Human’s are very complicated.
I am about as functional as I can get seeing as how I have not had the help and support for my full range of difficulties/problems. Which isn’t to say I’m high functioning. I manage to live independently in a somewhat restricted fashion.
It’s better than was predicted early on in my illness(first 7 years). I shudder to think where I’d be if I’d not met my wife. Never underestimate the benefits of a supportive partner.
I’d like to think everyone would like everyone to be more functional. Normies or not, caregivers, peers or the general population. I know it’s not always a realistic goal, but it gives people hope, and charts a way for when there are better treatments and so on.
As a highly functional within NAMI, I’ve had a balance of the rock star experience and treatment as if I were a child sitting at the grownup table. I stopped going because of it. In the real world, no one gives you any awards for acting halfway normal, but they don’t treat you like a child unless you act like one. I didn’t like giving people false hope, either. For a while I thought I could offer them perspective, but everyone’s experience varies, so all I could say was your mileage may vary.
I know I’ve checked out of this forum for a while and I’m sorry, but I have been following the digests. I’m going to try to ease back into it, as I’m thinking of getting back into advocating a bit. It’s lonely passing for neorotypical, you feel like you don’t belong in either world and feel like a phony in both.