Here is Elyn Saks, in a powerful, video from Ted.com, about her own experiences as someone with a severe mental illness.

She has chronic schizophrenia.

Why would I post about someone with a severe mental illness on a site devoted to learning disabilities?

Well the more we can step outside our own experiences and glimpse those of others, including those whose learning and living struggles marginalize them within society, the more we understand the diversity of the human experience. The more we understand, the less we judge, the less we judge, the more we can do something useful about the inequities within school systems and other organizations.

The differences between the stigma of mental illness and the stigma that can accompany learning disabilities is only a matter of degree.