Efforts to end discrimination always take a blow when an individual with some kind of mental illness commits a violent crime. That is especially true when the individual's violent criminal actions capture the attention of the news media and their mass audience.
Uninformed media focus on the violence of the individual's actions, which perpetuates another crime.
I know the stigma all too well, and the media show no mercy or sensitivity. Legal criteria to evaluate crimes committed by persons with severe mental illnesses were developed about 200 years ago and are now seriously outdated. Medical science today enables medical professionals to accurately diagnose schizophrenia, which frequently impairs insight and mental capacity. I have no history of substance abuse and no criminal record. I have managed not to attempt suicide, which any mental health professional will say is phenomenal in a person who has suffered from a mental disorder.