To the editor:

I am a member of a minority. What makes us a minority is that we live with a subset of neurological disorders called “mental illnesses.” Neurological disorders are physiological differences in brain structure and function. Scientists include mental illnesses in that class because they believe that mental illnesses are disorders of the brain, not character flaws. As the mind is essentially the intricate patterns of energy flowing through the brain, our brain disorders adversely affect our mental faculties.

People with brain disorders are unique among minorities because the brain is what most assists people to fight for equal rights and to end discrimination. Many of us are poor and uninsured, isolated and receive little or no helpful treatment. Symptoms of mental illness overwhelm us, day and night. We cannot unite in a single voice nor gather together, carrying signs and demonstrating in the streets.

Our voices are not heard. Our ideas are not considered. Others take it upon themselves to speak for us. When will this stop? Even well-meaning people cannot truly represent us. We cry out, but our words go unheard, our perspective discounted.

As a minority, we have always been discriminated against and worse. Our “unalienable” rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not equal to those of others. We are not “created equal.”

Our lives are 13-25 years shorter. We are prisoners of our brains. Recovery takes years. Where are the curb cuts, ramps and safety bars for people living with mental illness?

Charlie Ross,

Lawrence