> I don't know anyone who wants to get a free pass on bad behaviour just because they have a severe and enduring mental illness.
How many of them want to be shamed, bullied, and ostracized for it?
How many of them want to be shamed, bullied, and ostracized for it?
"He's schizophrenic so he can't control his outbursts" flows into "he's schizophrenic so we sadly can't employ him" - and we know from research that this discrimination happens.
Also: it is intensly frustrating that people leap to absurd extremes. Nothing in my post can be read as "it's okay to ostracize him".
What I meant to say is that confronting a schizophrenic about their delusions or disorganized thinking is almost assuredly a futile exercise, save maybe if you're a very well-trained professional. He clearly suffers from some paranoid delusions[0][1], and I don't think talking to him about the perils of racism is going to prove fruitful anytime soon.
> "he's schizophrenic so we sadly can't employ him"
In some cases, that's probably true - Terry Davis very likely being one of those cases. Conversely, my uncle is quite schizophrenic (pretty severe delusions and paranoia) but responds well to medication and is now gainfully employed, mostly because he hasn't said anything like "Spoiler alert, CIA. Guess how this ends? I have God. I win. You unconditionally surrender and suck my fucken dick. That's how this ends." [2] in quite some time.
Some people will require a large amount of care and probably aren't well-suited for the workforce. Why is that a bad thing? Your employment status doesn't reflect your worth as a person. We can, and should (not that we always do) take care of people unable to work. We have more than enough productive surplus to support their needs.
0: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/38u4zc/flight_s...
1: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/38u4zc/flight_s...
2: http://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/38u4zc/flight_s...
It's less because Terry couldn't make a useful contribution and more that he not really interested. He's had jobs in the past where he was no more or less ill. From what I've read of his life history, he walked away rather than got fired.
With a very patient and understanding manager, a very isolated workspace or maybe a couple very patient and understanding coworkers, and probably someone filtering all of his communication, it would be workable. I can see why Terry would not want to be an environment like that, of course.
That's not to say that someone wouldn't take a chance on him given his strong technical ability, but I'm not sure most people would look on that decision in retrospect as a good one.
Here, think of it this way: how would you respond to someone that said, "He's paralyzed from the waist down so he can't control his legs ... and therefore he's unemployable"? (Assuming of course that the job doesn't actually require working legs.)