i've been on disability for various mental stuff for about six years. i'm certainly not ashamed of my brain and its quirks but i am terribly uncomfortable when people ask me "what do you do?" what do i say? i just got off the online dating market. imagine having to tell every man you're interested in that you're on disability. yikes. surprisingly, my honesty allowed me to helped a lot of guys with info about mental health and how to get access to providers. the fellow i'm dating has actually called me mellow... so i understand about being around people only when your symptoms aren't very pronounced. i suppose i take the opposite path of me fellow poster. i say i'm on disability for the crazy. not mental illness. though i'm looking for a new phrase (any ideas?). i think i've outgrown that one. i try not to make it super serious so i don't scare people. it seems like there's so much negativity surrounding mental illness, i guess i like to play a lighter hand. i suppose with physical disabilities it is easier to see and with mental stuff when you start to describe your problems, i feel like people think, "oh, i've had days like that." or, "i do that, too." and it's not the same.

congrats on doing better. a warning. i recently got a letter in the mail about the government potentially reviewing cases. i had read that they wanted to bump people off of disability in the news. this letter wasn't a review, it was a letter to know if they should review me. they wanted to know if i had discussed working with my doctor since a certain date and if anything had changed for me since a certain date. i'm not trying to help you (or anyone who might be reading this) scam the system. but it scares me that the system is trying to get rid of me and people like me who need help. i take an maoi. i don't work. i don't know if i ever will. maybe. i'd like to. but it's sad to me that cutting my food stamps and shaking people on disability is a priority when so many other things are going on.