In the December/January issue of Harper’s Bazaar fashion magazine was a feature showcasing jewelry. The models wearing the necklaces were not the traditional runway girls you see in photos. This was interesting to me as their identities were not given.

So beautiful it is to me to think that you can live and love [and laugh!] in society without making your gender the focus of everything you do. For others they want you to know.

The fashion spread got me thinking about how best to fight stigma. Likely there’s no one best method to do this. It depends on the person’s comfort level. In a coming blog entry I’ll talk about my stance in more detail.

In fact I’m no fan of working in a cubicle in a corporate office after my failed first insurance field career. My friend Robin had schizophrenia and rose up to be the CEO of a corporation. So I could not tell you flat-out to rule out an office job.

What I can say is that I think it’s still dice-y to disclose when you work in a business setting. This is up to you. It’s your choice wherever you work.

The link to the fashion article in Harper’s Bazaar is this: I dream of a day when disclosure isn’t necessary as there’s no stigma anymore. Yet even should this happen we can talk of intent versus impact: in the atmosphere where educating others has become unnecessary:

Hiding in a closet could cause emotional distress even when there’s an outside openness to talking about mental illness. Should the day come when there’s mainstream acceptance everywhere then disclosure would likely be okay.

It’s a question of do as I say not as I do as my recovery is an open secret. Since I’m no fan of tossing out details of your diagnosis to coworkers like candy corn on Halloween.

The issue is that stigma still exists in the hearts and minds of people interacting with a person who has a mental illness.

I and you and others might be on the lucky end of the luck of the draw: recovered and doing well. On the opposite side there are those of us who have “disclosed” simply because we’re acting bizarre out in public.

In the coming blog entry I will talk in detail about this as the fact is it’s a stereotype at work when it comes to stigma.

We each of us should be having compassion for others who are not doing well. We’re not in opposing camps.

In this holiday season gratitude is call for. And empathy along with eggnog.