Author: Krista L. R. Cezair

Krista L. R. Cezair is currently a third-year law student at Harvard Law School and a master of public health candidate at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her work exists at the intersection of lived experience, identity, and educational training and can be found @klrcezair on Instagram and Medium.

From a Psych Hospital to Harvard Law: One Black Woman’s Journey With Bipolar Disorder

I am a successful dual-degree student who is smart like you are, capable like you are, kind like you are and feeling like you are. I just also live with bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

So next time you think—as one of my professors did—that there’s no one at Harvard Law School whose brain works “like that” and that people who plead guilty by reason of insanity are “not like us,” please know that we are among you, your friends, loved ones and community, contributing to society.