That is why, as their friends and advocates, we do all that we can to push back against stigma. And that is also the reason why our website, EndearingPersonalities.com has added this blog, which we are calling “Friends of Lionel”. Our blog is in memory of our former Housing With Help, Inc. board member and Green Bay Packer star, Lionel Aldridge.
Lionel became a legendary inspiration to the world from the 1960's well into the 1990's by making the incredible journey from Green Bay Packer Super Bowl player standout to schizophrenic homeless drifter and back to becoming a mental health spokesman and advocate.
Lionel passed away in 1998, but we hope to carry on his legacy by showcasing the endearing personalities of those who carry the cross of mental illness. Mindful that the vignettes we publish will serve to enlighten our audience to the nature of mental illness, we hope to nip stigma in the bud. We are soliciting input from people whose profession serves those who live with mental illness and from friends and relatives who have stuck with them through their illness, to submit stories in the form of vignettes about some of the special people they have come to know and especially those they have developed an attachment to. These would be stories about people like the friends Lionel surely must have met during the years he spent living on the streets and in the shelters. Please submit stories to joe@endearingpersonalities.com.
*Access to Disability Data, An InfoUse Project funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research.
