Should People with Mental Illness be Sterilized? A Response to Bigotry

I was on a date earlier last year and my date made the error of sharing too much personal information too early. Basically, it felt like a therapy session, only it was supposed to be a date. Not good. But what was really not good was that he said something that I found extremely offensive-so offensive that I put him on my "I-never-want-to-interact-with-you-again" list! (That's bad!) The person seriously told me that all people with mental illness should be sterilized. When he saw my shocked face, he tried to get back in my good graces by saying that his statement included himself if he was ever diagnosed with a mental illness. Needless to say, it didn't help. There are several huge things that are wrong with that sentence, the first being that who gets to decide who has a mental illness? Do you know how many people in the United States alone have mental illness?? According to the National Institute of Mental Health , approximately one in four adults or 57.7