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Re:For gifted children, being intelligent can have dark impl... by JohnBooty on Friday February 12, 2016 @11:17AM (#11088265)
A behavioral health diagnosis doesn't mean you're damaged or disabled or even that you're a special snowflake that needs special accommodations.

A behavioral health diagnosis, just like any health diagnosis, just recognizes that you have some thing that is negatively impacting you.

Just as the diagnosis of an ingrown toenail doesn't mean you need special treatment, neither does a mental health diagnosis.

Re:For gifted children, being intelligent can have dark impl... by lutusp on Friday February 12, 2016 @12:31PM (#11088819)
> Just as the diagnosis of an ingrown toenail doesn't mean you need special treatment, neither does a mental health diagnosis.

Nonsense. Try getting a top security clearance if you have a mental illness diagnosis. Try getting certain kinds of insurance, or preferential treatment in many professions, or any number of other examples in modern society -- a mental illness diagnosis is a burden for a lifetime. The fact that the "illness" may have resulted from a fantasy like recovered memory therapy or be based on a make-believe ailment like Asperger's or homosexuality, doesn't matter -- same burden, same stigma.

Re:For gifted children, being intelligent can have dark impl... by JohnBooty on Sunday February 14, 2016 @02:13AM (#11097462)
Yeah, there's definitely a stigma. Often an unfair one. You are correct.

That does not conflict with anything I said. A mental health diagnosis does not generally mean that a person is dangerous, unemployable, or disabled.

A negative reaction of others to a diagnosis, based on fear and ignorance, is a big problem that we need to address. But those erroneous reactions don't change the intrinsic meaning of a diagnosis.

Re:For gifted children, being intelligent can have dark impl... by DanBC on Friday February 12, 2016 @12:34PM (#11088843)
GCHQ have made a point of recruiting people with autism spectrum diagnoses.

There's plenty of people with severe mental illness who have security clearances.

Re:For gifted children, being intelligent can have dark impl... by lutusp on Friday February 12, 2016 @01:08PM (#11089099)
> There's plenty of people with severe mental illness who have security clearances.

Yes, but only if they lie or waffle in their applications, because mental illness is specifically discussed as a reason to deny clearance.

http://www.military.com/veteran-jobs/security-clearance-jobs...