So, yesterday I was watching the Channel 4 program; Ruby Wax's Mad Confessions. Sadly I only got to watch the first part but it made quite an impression on me in that first half and hour.
The first thing that struck me is that we are living in a society that openly accepts (almost) all religions, homosexuality and, to some point, disability and works with them and yet mental illness is still "a big taboo". How can this be? Why is Mental Illness looked upon with such a stigma that very highly successful business men and women feel the need to hide it from their colleagues and their employees? Very rarely does it impinge on their daily working life, so why are they so scared that they may loose their jobs, and, what right does anyone have to make them feel like that in the first place?
In my opinion, and coming from the view point of some one with a disability that means I have to use a wheelchair for most of the time mental illness is just another disability. This may sound harsh and I really don't mean it to. If someone with a disability wants a job then the employer cannot turn them down purely on the fact that they have some kind of disability. They can turn them down on the basis that they are not suitable for the job and if I went for a job that involved climbing scaffolding then yes, I would expect to be turned down because it is obviously beyond my physical capability. Also I would, if I knew that the job was beyond me because of the disability, probably feel rather stupid for going for it in the first place.
What I am trying to say, in a rather convoluted manner, is that even if someone does suffer from a mental illness be it Depression, OCD or one of the many others they should not live in fear of being discriminated against for being open about it.
However, if the illness/disability does or will impinge drastically on their ability to work and their working performance then you can see why they might find it harder to get a job. But, it is not in the rights of the employer to decide this simply on face value.
I am a great believer in Human Potential; anyone who is given the correct tools and the opportunity to shine will shine. If society allows the taboo of mental illness to continue and doesn't embrace and become open about it then those people who have a mental illness may never be able to show society and the people around them what they are able to achieve, do and bring and this would be very, very wrong of us!
