The Beautiful Mallards

The 26^th November was a game of two halves Gary. Birmingham was the venue for the Open Up induction, where we all met up from our regions, the lovely Open Up staff and the inspired participants and their wonderful project machines. When it was my turn to describe the project Tired Eyes, I simultaneously had all the fist-thumping confidence of a dissident with true conviction and all the nervousness of a social anxiety sufferer with a crowd of people staring at me. Don't be crestfallen comrades, free yourself of your chains, beat your chests and take the fight to our stigmatic oppressors and oh by the way, please, please like me, please, I'm just a little rabbit.

As I spoke with a wavy voice I heard genuine murmurs of approval and gasps of enlightenment which was so wonderful. Over the rest of the day people gave great positive feedback. So much in my life, as I am sure you will relate to, I feel so beaten down by the negative attitudes to us people who suffer from mental distress, as a liability, as useless, as awkward and potentially violent. So when there is a moment when everything comes together and people value me, it is special, really special. Everybody has something really valuable to give to the world, everybody, it just needs to be recognised and encouraged. And when I say valuable, I don't mean money value, I mean human value.

Great moments like that, make me think of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale The Ugly Duckling, where the duckling is really a beautiful swan. The metaphor has carried me through many a dark time, when amongst people who are very different to me, I am so alone. Although it has to be said, it scores nil point on the avian political correctness scale. I'm sure me old mucker Hans, Hansy Baby, won't mind if I subvert the characters a little. Perhaps we are conditioned to believe we are ugly cygnets. As the ugly cygnet hides in the reeds to save others from the disgust of seeing her, she spots a pair of little eyes and a sad beak. Yet another beak pokes through some wild grasses and chances a nervous little quack. Then other little birdies pluck up courage to say hello. There are so many of us hiding and wow, they look so much like me. Eureka! We are the beautiful mallards!

Second half to come after the team talk, the hair dryer treatment and the orange segments.