We Are All Created Equal: A personal quest for justice and dignity

My friend encouraged me to write about my experiences with the mental health system.

“You should write a book,” she said.

“No, I couldn’t. No one would believe me,” I replied.

“Yes, you could,” she insisted. “You could call it One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the Sequel—it’s worse than the original.”

This 6,000-word nonfiction piece opens with my voluntary admission to a psychiatric unit in Virginia in 2008. We Are All Created Equal chronicles my conflict with the mental health system that began when hospital personnel assaulted me. It covers the facts surrounding the assault, as well as my resultant struggle for justice, not only with the mental health system, but also with the criminal justice system and government oversight agencies.

My experience illustrates the pervasive stigma attached to mental illness and its damaging effects. In addition to being educational, the narrative is entertaining, suspenseful, and incorporates a healthy dose of humor.