Who's Living in Your Neighborhood?

A few statistics about your neighborhood:

• One out of every 100 people in the population has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
• Ten percent of the population have experienced depression this year and half of them deal with a lifetime of depressive episodes. Forty-five percent of your neighbors experience an episode of depression sometime before the age of 45.
• Fifteen percent of the general population has a diagnosable personality disorder.
• 0.5 – 2.5 percent of your neighbors suffer with clinical paranoia.
• Two percent of your neighbors have Antisocial Personality Disorder (formerly known as sociopaths)
• Two percent have incurable Borderline Personality Disorder
• One percent is diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and another 15% have significant symptoms of the disorder.
• Five percent have a schizoid or schizotypal disorder.
• Ten percent are significantly physically disabled.
• 2.6 to 3.4% are legally blind.
• 8.2% have significant hearing impairments – 0.8% have severe to profound hearing impairments.
• Three percent are mentally retarded.
• Between one and eight percent of children have specific learning disabilities.
• Between 0.5-1.5% have recurring seizures.
• forty-four percent of your neighbors have been divorced at least once.

Chances are that you or someone close to you suffers some form of mental, physical or emotional disability. Isn't it time that we removed the stigmas and reserved our judgment?