“I truly believe that you can do anything you put your mind to, and there’s always a way. I truly believe there’s always a way.”

“Don’t minimize anything. You can exaggerate, yes. But don’t put your feelings down or the way you feel down because somebody else thinks they’re not valid. What you feel is what you feel.”

“It’s possible to live a relatively normal life despite the fact that you have a serious mental illness, even if it is schizophrenia. I think I’ve lived a relatively good life, one that I can be proud of, despite the fact that I have schizophrenia.”

“The mental illness – schizophrenia – is a label, and that label shouldn’t be – I should not be judged by it. It’s not me…just a part of what I have to live through.”

“I really love learning, and I would appreciate people who also love learning, and who can communicate with me about the things that I learn, and also maybe the things that he or she learns, so that we can have intellectual, meaningful and also compassionate, psychological conversations.”

“I am an ordinary person. I do not have a PhD, I am not a famous researcher. I would like to say that the heroes in my story are my mom and my dad, who absolutely would not give up for me, and always said that I would go back to college and always said that I would reclaim my life.”

“I think I’d like them to know that I’m not defined by having schizophrenia. It’s something I live with, but it certainly does not define me. Same as alcoholism. I’ve been an alcoholic. I suppose I always will be one, but it doesn’t define who I am. I’ve got a lot of other attributes and qualities and good things happening in my life that these things have taken away from me at times, but right now I’m in a good place.?”

“I’m relentless about living, relentless about healing, and learning what it means to do this thing that we’re all doing. I want to know about it. I’m passionate about knowing. One professor once said “He’s poised between learning and knowing more.” The most brilliant statement I think I’ve ever heard because isn’t that true about all of us. I know a lot, I am poised between learning more, and I couldn’t be more excited about doing it. I am passionate about both my history and my future, because I think it’s going to be—I hope it’s going to be a bright one.”

“I have a life, I have responsibilities, I have challenges. But at the end of the day, I just learn how to channel-in those concerns with a lot of extra help and support. I may see a psychiatrist monthly, I may take medication every day, but I’m not that far away from that individual. At all.”

“… the world that we live in, society, kind of what we were talking about earlier, it was made for normal people. And if you have a mental disorder, you’re not. And you’re going to have to make adjustments. You’re gonna have to make adjustments, so let’s say, do a fulltime job. To have a relationship with people, you’re gonna have to be more vulnerable and maybe work harder to find a good person to be with. But that’s not a bad thing. Having to adjust, it’s not a bad thing. And having a mental disorder, it’s not like a death sentence. It just means, yeah, you’re gonna have to make some adjustments but you can still live a badass life.”

“No matter who you are or how more – more difficult is your life, you need to take care of your health. Because health manages the rest of your body. And if you have family, you need to let your family help you and let your family know that somebody’s mistreating you.”

“I’m here today to attest to the fact that I’m a better human being today than the one I was seven years ago, six years ago, five years ago. I’m a better human being. I’m capable of feeling I’m in touch with my emotions.”

“I guess I’m a little ambitious. There’s things I’d like to do. There’s things that I’ve always wanted to do in my life that I haven’t really done yet, but—I don’t know, it’s like my—I think my thought process is a little more of a go-getter kind of thing. Sometimes I let a lot of opportunities just come to me if they ever do.”

“That I’m not mad at men anymore. And I was. Because even in this relationship, I wanted someone, even my worst enemy, to come and say regardless of what their image was, “I’m just like you.” … and I am not a monster because I defended my life against someone trying to kill me, and I’m not a monster because I suffered because of it.”

“I’m just like, a normal guy trying to get through my day to day, just like you are. I have the same fears and unanswered questions in life that you have, and I’m just trying to survive like everybody else. There’s nothing different about me. I’m not a killer. I’m not like a multiple—I’m not like—I’m not harmful to society. I’m just an everyday person trying to live my life like you are.”

“I would like people to know that when they first see me, I wish they would understand that I’ve been through a lot more than I look like I have, and that I have a lot more experience than I appear to, with a lot of different elements. And I’d like people to do that with everybody, really. To look beyond the surface and try to understand that everyone is going through something and just because they’re not acting in such a way that you think they should, doesn’t mean they’re wrong.”

“So I’d just like to say if anyone’s listening, or listens to this, that it can always get better. There’s always hope. It makes me cry to think about it. There is always tomorrow and tomorrow can always be better than today. So, just try to get the help that you need and take your meds. Do what your doctor says. Try to get—ask for help. Get the help. Don’t give up. There’s just always hope. There’s always hope for a better tomorrow.”

“I’m not lazy. I’m not a deadbeat. I’m not some leech living off the system. You know, I care for people. I’m not somebody who wanted a disability.”

“Sometimes your values, they change in order to adjust to the situation…You should do what’s best for you. And not always living up to what is expected of you doesn’t mean that you’re less of a human or less valued in the world.”

“Being born again and loving God, it’s made me so I love everybody.”

“It’s been a lot of hard times but a lot of good times, too. I wish the best for all the people with schizophrenia and I hope they overcome it, and I hope their life isn’t all bad.”

“I’m just mainly one person, you know, and one person cannot do too much, but if people know about me, I like them to know about my name.”

“I try to be a positive person. I do think that good things in life can come to you and that it is a recovery process. And that I try my best, probably almost to a fault, to live a normal life.”

“I just want other people to know that if you’re dealing with a certain illness, regardless if it’s not schizophrenia or it is schizophrenia, you can survive it. Don’t kill yourself. Don’t do anything, you know, to harm yourself or your family or your friends. Cherish what you have left in your health.”

“I don’t consider myself a stereotype of mental illness. I feel like I live out the box—I stand out of the box.”

“You can do anything you put your mind to it. Don’t let drugs, alcohol, mental illness or anything hold you back and tell you you cannot, because you can. And if you need help, reach out for it.”

“My message is stop denying that you have a problem. There’s always room to get better. Seek help because people do understand.”

“I would want them to know that none of us are promised tomorrow. And if I go before them, just be happy that I’m with my Maker because it’s been a fight.”

“If there isn’t a God, just live like there is one. Just have respect for these silly little thoughts that go through your head about life and stuff. Maybe it’s not just something that you think of by yourself. Other people think of them, too.”

“I’m schizo-affective, but I’m gonna live a very productive life. And I’m go​​​nna accomplish the things that I wanna accomplish.”

“​My mental illness has given me the greatest gift of all, which is the ability to really love myself for who I am.”​

“There is life after mental illness. I know people who have succeeded in their chosen field despite being ill, and I know people who were unable to, but I think always there’s a way to pick up your life and move on as a competent member of society and not be thrown out into the shadows.”

“​I’m a very caring person and I can humble myself to the degree where, you know, I can relate to other people and what they had gone through, what other people go through. Wanna lend a helping hand to people and talk to them and encourage them. That’s what I want to do.”

“I’m a very forgiving person. I like company, I’m a people person, and I just like helping people out. And I’m very responsible, and I got good attendance when I go to work. And I just want them to know I’m a hard worker. And I’m just dependable.”

“That I can be heard. That I can tell somebody the way I think. If it, if it gets on the records, I won’t go out of the world backwards. I want to make a mark, to leave my legacy that it had been written, so that somebody can hear it, and say that was a man, that Ronald English and that he tried to make amends to them all.”

“I’m a survivor, and I understand God to the utmost respect. I read His word and I study and I practice it a lot.”

“How I’ve come so long a way, so that I can deal with the problems that I have and mostly get rid of the problems without all these antics and problems and stuff coming up and things that I’ve grown out of it a lot, you know, the last several years.​​”​

“I’m a good person, first of all. I’m not, I ain’t no sex offender… I love America. I love our military. I love President Obama. He done the right thing, you know, protecting [our country]. My father did it too.”

“I’m a good person… I really am a good person and I’m just a helpful person. I would love to help somebody… I have some ups and downs in my life, made some mistakes, and… I just wanna be back normal. I just wanna give back.”

“I’m a good person. I have a good heart. I always consider someone else’s feelings, like before you do something or before you say something, I try not to say exactly what I’m thinking if we’re going through an argument or whatever. I try not to say that because sometimes that’s more hurtful than going through the argument itself. You say something that you don’t mean and people internalize that. I learned that. So, I try not to do that. I mean, I try to help you if I can help you. I just want people to know I’m a good person.”​

“Stay away from drugs … no alcohol … the cigarettes. I’m a nice guy. Too nice at times. People take advantage of me. My friend…is trying to get me to quit being that way. But I just won’t change.”

“I would like them to know that I’m a survivor, that I’m strong and that I’m competent at times, I might not be competent all the time, but I can be competent. That I can have a normal life. That I can be, what a person would consider a regular ‘ole day-to-day person. That I might have problems from time to time, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t be a good friend, a good wife and a good mother.”

“What I would most want someone to know about me is: Even though I’m schizophrenic, I’m still a person with emotions and an intelligence; and I’m capable of doing anything that any other person is capable of doing. That’s what I would want other people to know.”

“…the thing that I have been learning and that I need to keep learning is that acceptance doesn’t always come very easily and it can take years upon years.”

“I think there’s like a stigma. I would just tell people to have an open mind because you really don’t know who you’re dealing with… I don’t know if most people would consider me crazy, but…I just think I’m a normal person…with good goals… So, just have an open mind and be willing to accept some flaws in people and look for some good.”

“I can think of something that my dad used to always say, ‘Honest to goodness. Honest to goodness. The wicked and oppressing need not His blessing, but be honest to goodness.’”

“I will always want them to remember about me that no matter what I go throughout my life that I’m the same, nice, loving, caring Derrick, and I won’t change that for anything in this world.”

“If you have a mental condition, get some help for it, take your medications, try to get into some type of stress class or something, because you’ll end up like me. I’m surprised I’m alive today, I swear to God. I didn’t think I was going to make it to see fifty-years-old. Schizophrenic, bipolar is a serious condition. So it’s important to take your medication and get therapy and help for your condition.”

“What I would like people to know about me is that I’m exploring this concept of…the United States needs at least one person to look at a sheet of paper and say “I’m going to be brave on that sheet of paper.” Like, when it comes to – when it comes to bravery, we need to see who the bravest and most powerful people are. And the best way to do that isn’t through combat or athletics, it’s through who has the bravest, most powerful minds and explore that through writing, on the written page.”

“I am different, I am unique but … I want them to understand that I’m still a person, you know. Just because I talk a certain way or because I dress a certain way … I have something wrong with me, but it’s always nice to sit down and know the person and understand what they’re going through. Cause if you don’t, then you’ll never know, and then you’re (pause) uneducated …”

“I’d like to let people know with this illness, don’t let it get you down. Take your medication. Stay away from drugs and alcohol. Do what you’re supposed to do, and if you have any problems with your medicine, or anything [such as] bad side effects, go to your psychiatrist. And if you feel at all like the medicine makes you feel suicidal, or if you’re gonna hurt somebody, you feel that way, turn yourself into the police right away and get to a psych-ward.”

“My message is … I would like for people to know, mainly specially for young teenagers, young ladies, from the ages, maybe 9 and up, that I am a strong survivor. And I want them to know that I am a survivor of family incest. And here I’m at the age of 44 years old and actually you can say I was raped at age 2 months old. So, I am a strong survivor, and I’m here to let the ladies know that … if I made it through, that you can make it through, too. And there is hope, and sometimes you feel like giving up, but there is a sun that’s gonna shine and not to never give up and to let somebody walk with you and to hold your hand and … let you know that you can do it.”

“Take time to consider what would, what would you be? What would you feel like? How would you … do it? How would you cope … if you were in the same situation?”

“I tried. I gave it the old college try. I mean, some people may think I’m a shirker—you hear these talk show hosts: “do away with social security.” Well the people that suffer the most would be hurt the most by it. You don’t know how everyday I just sit and wished I could have gone into work today, earned a living, been independent, not been on the system And people look at you like you’re just a shirker: “you’re feigning and you’re crazy, because you want your benefits.” I tried, I gave it my effort, and it just didn’t work out for me. Who the hell wants to live on 1,000 dollars a month, Dr. Crane? I mean, you think that’s fun? It’s not fun, it’s very difficult, and these people think it’s the greatest, it’s the life of Riley — no it’s not.​”

“I’m a good person. Just because I have this illness doesn’t mean I’m not a good person. I’m not dangerous. I’m just a human being … with a problem.”