I guess part of what makes it easier for me to vote to keep it is that I no longer view myself as ill.

Also, I believe, that the other factor we the yay sayers have in common besides "always",
is the fact that we don't completely seperate the bipolar from ourselves as individuals.
For many of us its formed part of our identity without consuming us.

I tried it that way, I mean the medical model dictates that we should view ourselves as ill. But it just made me feel so much sicker all round. Its like that ill mindset fed my symptoms and my bipolar was in high gear, definitly at its worst.

After about of year of pure hell, I chose to revert to my pre-dx mindset, that I'm differently wired. And because I've always been differently wired, even since childhood, I see no reason to get rid of what shaped me into the woman who has become an awesome compassionate single mother, a gf who has thee most accepting bf and an empathic friend who can comfort through every life event because I've lived it tenfold twice over myself.

I also decided to be a mother on what I now realize was a very rebellious, impulsive, defiant, hypomanic whim. I was 19 and my family had already set the date for my abortion, without my input...

If I wasn't in that mindset at the time, I would not now be the proud mother of my greatest blessing and biggest accomplishment of my life.

So while I acknowledge that bipolar wreaks havoc, I also know that some of us can look through the storm clouds and find a silver lining.