Five years ago my life changed dramatically when I experienced job discrimination based on my diagnosis. I was forty-five years old with a college degree and twenty years experience in the field of Human Services. I pursued help from the Americans With Disabilities Act and was referred from one person to another until, six months later, I ended up where I began. I learned that people with physical impairments such as the deaf, blind, mobility impaired, or developmentally disabled have won more legal ground than people diagnosed with mental illness.I live in a small rural community where there is much competition in a limited job market. After discrimination ended my career I sought help from many agencies including Job Services and Vocational Rehabilitation. I was offered a series of minimum wage jobs, dishwasher and fast food clerk, the kind of unskilled labor I did before graduating from college. One employer, in a shadowy attempt to offer hope, explained to me that I should think of these jobs as “a bridge” to something better. “I’ve already crossed four bridges,” I replied. It felt like the bridges were taking me backward, not forward.