Bipolar Prof Expelled for Mania

Posted on June 5, 2006 in Mania Stigma

Check the third comment. An anonymous poster from the Georgia Department of Education implies that we bipolars are a bunch of spongers.

Hugo Schwyzer tells the story of a tenured bipolar professor at Pasadena City College who lost his position after flying off into mania. Bureaucrats were miffed that Yves Magloe had not finished the proper paperwork (while in episode). He was thereby accused of “abandonment” and expelled from his job as an ESL instructor.

Hugo had this to say:

I don’t see myself as a crusader for mental health issues, but every once in a while, when something like this happens, I am reminded of how tragic our continued societal double standard is. If Magloe had missed class with heart trouble, and been unable to contact his department, he would not have been terminated. If he had been struggling against cancer, or injured in a car crash, no one would have considered him to have “abandoned” his post. But where mental illness is concerned, a powerful misunderstanding remains. Someone suffering from bipolar disorder (or other similar problems) is judged accountable for his missed time in a way that someone suffering from a more obvious physiological injury is not. I don’t know the law well enough to know if it’s illegal to do what our Human Resources department has done, but it sure as hell is immoral! And it sends a terrible message to those folks in the community who are battling — or who have loved ones who are battling — the very serious problem of mental illness.

Many of my readers have faced the difficult decision of coming out or not. A very real danger of not telling is to find yourself in a position like that of Professor Magloe: the administration will observe your behavior in the worst possible light and punish you for “character” shortcomings.

It is never easy to come out of the lithium closet. And, frankly, having seen what corporations, schools, and other institutions have done to bipolars, I can understand hiding. What we need to do, however, is stand for those who have either chosen to be open or been exposed by circumstances. Notions of our incompetence or our fierceness are silly. With our voices we can press, proclaim, and educate.

For more information about what you can do, visit Hugo’s blog.