I am a soon to be graduating student at Stanford University. I have been dealing with severe Bipolar Disorder I for nigh on thirteen years now, and I am very happy that I will finally be able to graduate. It's been an arduous journey fraught with obstacles at every turn. In addition to my mental illness, I have gone through numerous personal tragedies, including being raped, losing twelve loved ones, given academic suspension due to the illness coupled with bad medication side effects and other issues, divorce, and many more.

Now I am facing the situation of not being able to get a job or get into grad school due to my past. My past performance academically is a blight on my record, and my past job history (or lack thereof) also counts against me. There was a bad period of about four years after a severe suicide attempt that led to temporary death and resuscitation. My brain was damaged, and I had to spend a long time doing many mental exercises to get it up to snuff. After that time, I tried going back to school, only to face the death of my uncle, aunt, and two best friends all during the course of one quarter, along with being mentally abused by the resident faculty member at the dorm and having terrible side effects after my bottle of Effexor didn't come in the mail. I was suspended for three years. I fought the suspension repeatedly, bringing in letters from doctors that told the academic standing committee that my failure to finish my classes was not my fault. I went to a nearby community college and took a semester, getting straight A's and hoping to prove to Stanford that I was perfectly capable of doing the work. They said no. I eventually had to wait out the whole suspension, getting odd jobs here and there like security guard or bookstore clerk.

After the suspension was up, I came back to school. I have been here for over two years and have brought my GPA up from a 1.7 to a 3.2 (I've averaged around a 3.7 since I came back). I take limited units to make sure I don't overdo it, and I work 20 hours or more a week for Student Housing. It's hard work, and side effects from the Lamictal make it so I have terrible concentration problems, but I still struggle through. Last year, my grandfather died, my cat died, my neighbor killed himself, my cousin died, and my ex-wife (with whom I had recently reconciled as friends) was murdered. After she died, I had a very bad break-down, and yet I still toiled through and got straight A's for that quarter.

I know that I can keep a job or stay in school if I am given the opportunity to do so, but it's a matter of getting that chance. I have proven that I am resilient and strong in the face of adversity. I need some accommodations (it takes me longer to do things because of concentration problems, and sometimes I still battle with my moods), but they are not large and can be dealt with easily enough. Nevertheless, I face a ridiculous amount of discrimination in both the workplace and graduate education.