poptart,

I do understand what you're saying about feeling misunderstood and judged unfairly, due to a diagnosis, but try to think outside of the box for a minute or two.

In my experience, people are judgmental towards others (in general) on just about every illness. Depression, anxiety, victims of abuse, personality quirks....you name it! A portion of the general population looks down upon us due to lack of understanding and immaturity. They do the same thing with physical illnesses: diabetes, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, even people w/ missing fingers or toes! So, they put us all down. We're stupid...we're clumsy...we deserved it...etc. The uneducated and unsympathetic can be SO CRUEL!!

But, they're dead wrong! Don't give into your fears that what they say might be true, or that everyone thinks these things of you. It's just a loud minority of the population. With the anonymity of the internet, this minority speaks up a lot louder than they ever have. They're still dead wrong, and you just may need to reassure yourself of that fact every now and then.

Hopefully, you'll be able to stay out of the box a little longer now. I wish you the best!