[TChris]

Would anybody on this thread dare to make a similar list about illnesses like diabetes, cancer, or losing a limb?

Alex Zanardi, the guy who lost both his legs in a CART racing accident, was recently on David Letterman's show and had a terrific sense of humor about it! I think he embarrassed Letterman with how comfortable he was with the subject. (At one point, he swiveled his artificial leg upwards and set a coffee mug on the sole of his shoe)

It marks a great person when he can accept his situation, struggle to overcome it, succeed and get on with his life. Zanardi is racing again.

[birbear]

It marks a great person when he can accept his situation, struggle to overcome it, succeed and get on with his life. Zanardi is racing again.

I agree.

I have a number of comments.

Lucky for Alex Zanardi that he had the resources and the support to be able to get up off the ground and start a new. That's one of the big differences between physical ailments and mental ailments -- the mentally ill person usually finds him/herself alone. Most people can relate to physical disabilities. Not as many can relate to mental disabilities.

Even most insurance policies for disability show a significant difference. My policy treated mental disability the same way they treated substance abuse -- 24 month limitation. (Where as if I had lost a leg, I would have been covered until I was 65)


2nd point: if I was on David Letterman, I would probably joke about my experiences with my mental illness, too. It's called self deprecating humor. And it's funny. But I wouldn't make blanket statements...I would just poke fun at my own situation.

I've done stand up comedy before. I poked fun at my experiences with obesity. It was funny. But there's a fine line between that and making fat jokes. One is funny, the other is just mean.

Many posts on this thread have crossed that line.