And so I decided to advocate in the comments the position that this type of wordplay fun would not be used with other serious disorders. I did not specifically say that I suffer from bipolar disorder, only that it is devastating and serious.
I didn't ask that it be taken down, I don't think I even said that I was "offended". I just wanted to point out that this particular piece of humor was more Family Guy than Simpsons.
Of course there were the usual haters: I must have a stick up my ass, I must just wake up miserable and looking for things to offend me, if I didn't like this particular picture than I should shove it and unlike George Takei's page, etc. And you know, that kind of reaction is so annoying when one is just trying to make a serious point, but it's going to happen.
But then someone, without realizing, proved my point that it's "OK" in society to make fun of bipolar disorder:"I'm betting you'll feel completely different about this in the morning. ;)" This got several "likes" from others reading the comment thread. Because I was advocating for bipolar disorder to be considered as serious as other serious medical conditions, conditions that we would not use wordplay with to make some kind of joke, it became acceptable to accuse me of being symptomatic in a stereotypical "bipolar" way. I was attacked not on the basis of my argument but on the basis of my assumed disorder.
Some said that those with bipolar disorder should be able to laugh about it. And this is not something I disagree with! But certain things are somewhat taboo to make jokes about unless you are a person who actually experiences the thing being made fun of. Disabled comedians are allowed to say things about their own experiences that would cause an audience to be absolutely silent if a non-disabled person were to say it. It's all about the "in-group, out-group" experience.
So once again, and I suppose I'll appear to have a stick up my ass: Bipolar Disorder is extremely not funny. It's a dangerous medical condition. Period. If you want to use the word in some kind of joke, just realize you are maintaining the status quo of stigma. I certainly would not be allowed to make some kind of wordplay joke with "Cancer" without being called out.
(I was amused that when I did a search on Google for the image to use in this post, the first hit was on a Facebook page about ending Bipolar stigma with lots of positive comments and shares from the page viewers -- so hey, maybe that does mean I have a stick up my ass! Or maybe it means that I know the power of words and how we use them, something that many do not take care with).
