Live, I don't think of myself as being crazy either. I can understand why you may be apprehensive about the idea.
I don't think bipolar = crazy. I have a brain disorder. It's a physical illness where the chemicals in my brain are unbalanced and that in turn affects my moods, but more importantly, it affects the way my body is able to function or not function. This doesn't make me crazy. I even struggle with slight paranoia, but I don't consider myself crazy for that either...I am always paranoid that when people are whispering or go off by themselves that they are talking about me...I think that comes from being overly sensative (rather as a result of my bipolar or from the abuse I received growing up).
But I am intriqued by the connection. I think, mainly, because I think it may be the key to getting rid of a lot of stigmas in our society about mental illness. From what I've read...there's something like 40 percent of people that think depression is a character flaw rather than a lagitament illness. There are still others who become afraid to be around anyone if they know they have a mental illness or still others who think that anyone with a mental illness should be locked up in a asylem somewhere.
If those same people were told, for example, that Abraham Lincoln was bipolar, that might open their minds enough for them to realize the truth about mental illness instead of thinking back to all the old movies with grusome ECT and straight jackets and such.
Make any sense?