Mental Illness Sigma Got Me Fired

Tweet

Stigma is a huge part of living with a mental illness. Even though people are no longer sent away to asylums and locked up, those with mental illness are still considered to be 'bad' or dangerous. I experienced this myself when I dealt with severe anxiety issues when I was a teacher at a public high school. My anxiety got so bad that I had to take most of the spring semester off on FMLA leave. I was shocked to get a call one spring morning from my principal, saying he wanted me to meet with a central office administrator and him the next week to discuss my position. According to him they needed to downsize my department at the school the next year and they were going to find a spot for me at a different school. The next week I found out I'd be moving to the 5th and 6th grade center. Over the summer, I found out my department at the high school actually had to hire someone to fill my spot as well as hire an additional person as well. There was no downsizing - the principal simply wanted me out of his building when he found out I had a mental health issue. He was also mad that I'd been communicating with human resources and not with him directly. Over the next two months I found out my new position was a set up. I was placed in a position where I'd been set up to be fired. Eventually I was issued an ultimatum to either turn over full access to my medical records to the school district or resign. Obviously, I chose to resign. All of this was simply because no one understood mental health. Because I was having panic attacks, they decided I must be dangerous to children. This is the kind of stigma we face every day.