On 10/1/15, Hannah Cobb <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> The Profiling the Profession study showed that 98.2% of archaeologists are
> NOT disabled.

It quite depends on whether the mental health condition is seen by the
individual as a disability, or has a significant disabling affect on
one's abilities.

 >If 1 in 4 of the general population have a mental health
> condition, how many archaeologists does this equate to who are not able to
> be open about an illness that likely severely affects the quality of their
> life, and their working life?

25% I would imagine. Though there will be a much larger number who
have other conditions which might affect their life and work to a
lesser extent.

I experience acrophobia, which was made considerably worse after
having suffered a head injury about eleven years ago. It does affect
my life, and restricts certain activities, though many people I know
are unaware I suffer from it. There are those who do and in every case
they respect the restrictions it imposes. These people don't make
issue of my problem primarily because it is a common affliction and
also because they themselves have or know others with similar
afflictions.

I would suggest that if the archaeological profession was profiled
with the question of having any mental health condition, if the answer
came to 98.2% as not, my suspicion would be that this would be that
many were being very dishonest with themselves or unaware of
themselves. Though one problem with mental health is that it is often
very difficult to self diagnose as one's personal perception of
oneself is one's benchmark of normality.