I hope you don't mind my commenting. I am so very sorry this has happened to you. I am sure it happens a lot.

I have had it happen before, within the medical field, as well as with law enforcement. In both cases, the argument against me was the fact that I had a record of seeking mental health care.

In the legal matter, I was the victim of violent a crime.in my own home. In the depositions, these facts re: my mental health care came out. From there on out, I was treated like I had no clue. The police chief had treated me poorly and was buddies with the defendant. There were threatening phone calls made to me and other harassing activities went on and on. The defense attorney was involved in some of these antics and he was caught in some of the pictures and videos of a group assembling in my driveway and on my property, etc.

While they carried on, thinking they were harassing a feeble-minded mentally ill person, I was taking pictures, filming and taking detailed notes. The only way I had gotten ahead of the defense and their arguments against me is the fact that I had kept a highly detailed contemporaneous journal throughout the ordeal. All of my notes , pictures, short film clips were given to the District Attorney and, in the end, the defendant did time and the police chief lost his job, as well as his retirement package. The defending attorney lost his license to practice. They'd lost in major ways, all because I'm so very crazy!

the case had become more and more involved because the defendant, his friends and family, including the police chief thought they could all harass me and could get away with it because I was supposedly unaware of my surroundings, etc. This caused ongoing investigations, many depositions, etc. It went on for approx. 6 months.

Any further protection of me was provided by the District Attorney's office because the police department could no longer be trusted.

It was all incredibly stressful. I had given the District Attorney's office enough credible info., at one point I had to leave my home and live with friends just over the state line., where I would not be found and where that particular police department had no jurisdiction. I was transported back into my home state, under protection, for further depositions and taken right back out of the state as soon as the depositions were completed for the day.

I would have just left town to avoid the whole mess, except I'd owned property there. This is a town on the east coast which is a well-known tourists' destination in the summers. It was best to eradicate the police chief for everyone's sake.

I am sorry to say I am now being treated the same way, discriminated against, within the SSA. My rights are being denied. I am being denied information on how to appeal decisions. I have copies of letters from a specific case worker, clearly bullying me, and more. I cannot imagine she'd get away with treating everyone this way. My doctors are appalled and have never seen a SSA worker act this way/write these types of letters. It looks like this caseworker saw my medical records and/or other medical information and the severity of my disability. She'd decided she could bully me and could get away with this. I have reported this and have requested an investigation. Even so, nobody from the SSA has advised me of any of my rights to date. (Supposedly, their clock is ticking toward a deadline for me to file appeals and still no info from them on what I need to appeal and the process of appealing.)

My point: This type of discrimination is rampant, including within agencies meant to assist us.

End of my rant.

We need to keep standing up against this, when and if we can do so. It's not always easy, in fact it can become far too taxing. We should not feel badly if we cannot take a stand at any given time. If it's possible, we might seek out assistance from agencies which might help by lending support, by investigating, etc.

Thank you, BeyondtheRainbow!