REGARDING 'Bigots have made my life a misery' (Letters, February 2), I certainly agree that there is a trend against those of us who are different.

I was a gifted child, but suffered from epilepsy and, as a result, was bullied by some within society who couldn't accept me for my capabilities and used the epilepsy to demoralize me.

This drove me to a nervous breakdown at the age of 12 and I lost two years of my secondary education. Since there was no provision by the State for gifted children with brain damage, I was placed in an institution with subnormal children.

I protested daily to get back into mainstream school. I repeatedly ran away and occasionally assaulted staff who emotionally abused me. Eventually, I returned to mainstream school, settled down, got my O-levels, A-levels and went on to university and got a degree in mathematics.

I then faced the hurdle of obtaining employment and experienced discrimination. An unscrupulous employer, who was prepared to take me on at school-leaver level, said that if I could prove myself, I would progress. I accepted this as I had no other choice and outperformed many when it came to mathematical and computational work, but my employer used my epilepsy as an excuse to prevent me progressing and not paying me at the level I was performing at.

So I started applying for jobs elsewhere, but got nowhere. To find out what my employer was stating about me, I planned with someone to obtain a reference and forward it on to me. My suspicions were true -- my employer didn't credit me worthy of what I was doing but emphasized my so-called inability due to epilepsy, which was defamation of character since epilepsy doesn't cause any mental or physical inabilities.

In 1993, I finally decided that I was not going to be held to ransom by this unscrupulous employer and wanted to create my own opportunity by moving into business. This I did with my family when we moved to Lancashire, during my time in business, I underwent brain surgery in 1996, which was 100 per cent successful, and I am no longer on medication. I have moved out of business and am now working for one of the biggest employers within the region and am rebuilding my life.

Normalized bigots who haven't got the mentality to accept different people for their differences caused most problems. They see anything normal as right even if it is morally wrong, but anything not normal as wrong even if it is morally right. I believe that people who have this attitude against us treating us as in the wrong are trying to disguise their own inabilities to compete with us and perhaps feel stigmatized because of their relative inferiority. Most appear to have something of an attitude or personality disorder of some kind and if anyone cannot accept me for what I am, then they've got the problem, not me.

Name and address received.