[partial rant]

So I am a teacher and eat lunch with co-workers that I've known for years. Towards the end of last school year, they were all talking about their students who were difficult to deal with. Keep in mind two of these teachers teach special ed. They started talking about... "She does..{this this and this}...she is so bipolar." another teacher would respond, "No, you know who's really bipolar..." then they'd talk about Susie student negatively describing actions not even remotely related to a bi-polar episode or even issues. After this went on for 10 minutes, I got so frustrated I said, you know who IS so bipolar- ME! That shut them up and they changed the subject.

This school year I've been eating lunch alone, but I've missed the down time of being around other people. Yesterday I tried eating with them again; it was the same thing. I got up and left. I'm sure they attributed that to me being "SO bi-polar." Ho-hum. I guess it's good that they feel comfortable enough to be themselves around me... I guess it's good I can see their true colors.

How can we get rid of this stigma?! UGH!!