Lately I have been but it was pointed out to me by Kuro5hin's tdillo that those who pursue the righteous path rarely get any credit for it during their lifetimes.
The reason I'm going to go work in the library this morning, is that I don't have the cash to buy a coffee at Starbucks. It really is that bad.
On the other hand, I am - at least at times - able to feel pretty good that the work I do has a lot more lasting value than does that of your typical coder.
"Living with Schizoaffective Disorder" comes across to most people as lucid, informative and helpful, but I regard it as rather pedestrian myself. It claims that "I want to tell you what it's like to live inside my head", but really, it doesn't.
What does tell you is "My Deepest Fear". I've been tossed involuntarily into psychiatric hospitals on three different occasions - twice by the police, in handcuffs - for no other reason than simply mentioning that essay to mental health professions. This despite not having been symptomatic in any way at the time I wrote it. That it reads like a paranoid manifesto was rather like the literary equivalent of a stage actor being "in character".
I'm pursuing some software projects that I have some real hope of succeeding with through crowdfunding, however in reality I regard hosting my software on my site, as a way to attract readers and inlinks to those two essays.
It is flatly illegal, in the United States, to discriminate against the mentally ill for reasons of employment. That doesn't make any difference to me; I still get no offers.
I could sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act however I feel very strongly in the assertion that "the best response to hate speech is more speech". Consider that had the Weimar Republic passed a law like the ADA, it would not have stopped Hitler from putting people like me to death.