Thinking about that time I worked for a family babysitting their small child. I was just thinking of maybe confiding in then my mental illness because I hate to keep that hidden and I tend to share it earlier rather than later if I feel like maybe I can.

Anyway, the mother decided to confide in me first how they had a previous babysitter who they got along with really well until she told them she had bipolar. Then they were nervous she would be dangerous when she took care of their kid, and were relieved when she quit soon after.

Needless to say, this ended up being another mark on the page of Wait To Confide for me because uh, ablism is not fun and I don’t need it directed to me.

It makes me think sometimes. I think about stigma and ablism but I also think of my power of being able to hide it all. That I have an invisible disability. Nobody ever guesses. There has been exactly 1 person who said he'd wondered: my thesis advisor in clinical psych for my undergrad thesid because of my intensity of interest in my area of research (bipolar).