I don't say much usually. When one of my cousin's daughters posted something that was really offensive on facebook several years ago I did contact my cousin and ask if she'd seen the post, explained the offensiveness, and said I'd be happy to explain to her daughter why it was so offensive but that I felt the parent should come before I said anything. And since it had been made a lot worse by the boyfriend I really felt the parents were the ones who needed to handle it (Plus the kid has never met me that she remembers and so she would just take it as "crazy woman" ramblings).

I do try my very best to not use the words crazy/insane/OCD/etc to describe real life functioning. I know I'm not always 100% on that but I do try. I figure that leading by quiet example lets me feel like I expressed myself but not being quite so public about why I feel the way I do.

I do not follow the "people first" terminology with regards to myself and bipolar. I carefully followed it through my career with my patients and probably would if talking about someone else but I call myself bipolar and I feel that bipolar IS something that I AM, no matter what people would prefer to hear me say. I don't hold that to be true for anyone else, but for me personally it is what I am comfortable with.