FACTS ABOUT STIGMA..WHAT DO YOU KNOW...DID YOU KNOW

IMPACT OF STIGMA

Stigma has an impact on both the affected individuals and those persons who do not share the particular trait. Response to stigma may be discussed from the perspective of persons living with stigma, the lay person and the health care professional.

The individual living with stigma

Stigmatised individuals respond to the reaction of others in a variety of ways. They are often unsure about the attitudes of others and therefore may feel a constant need to make a good impression. Individuals living with stigma each and every day may choose to accept societies or others view of them or choose to reject others discrediting viewpoints.

COVERING

Be of the potential threat and anxiety provoking nature of disclosing a stigmatizing difference, most people deem emphasize their differentness. This response called covering is an attempt to make the difference seem smaller or less significant than it really is. Covering involves understanding the difference between visibility and obtrusiveness. That is the condition is openly acknowledge but its consequences are minimized. Persons with special dietary requirements may deny the importance of maintaining the restriction in a social situation, even though they follow it. The goal is to divert attention from the defect, create a more comfortable situation for all and minimize the risk of experiencing enacted stigma. Humour used in a skilful and light hearted manner by the stigmatized individual, may decreased the anxiety of others and avoid an awkward encounter. This form of covering neutralises the anxiety- producing subject, therefore it is no longer taboo and can more easily be managed.

DISREGARD

A person’s first response to enacted stigma may be disregard. In other words they may choose not to reflect on or discuss the painful incidents. Well-adjusted individuals who are comfortable with their identity, have dealt with stigma for a long time, and choose not to respond to the reaction of others, may disregard it. Other examples are wheel chair athletes. These athletes disregard perception that their disabilities prohibit them from participating strenuous athletic endeavours. Any person who has observed these well condition athletes racing their wheelchair up heels in competitive meets may find it difficult to consider them discredited. Going public with a serious medical diagnose is another example of disregard by acting in the face of negative consequences. One aspect of going public is the potential for assertive political action and social change. Celebrities such as Mohammed Ali, Earvin Johnson, Michael, among others have captured public attention and acted positively to reduce enacted stigma by disclosing their personal struggles with a variety of conditions.

RESISTANCE REJECTION

These are additional strategies used in response to stigma. Individuals may speak out and challenge rules and protocols if their needs are not met. Frank, Hen wood and Bowden (2007) noted that resisting and rejecting were strategies used by maternal mental health clients. These disadvantaged mothers outright rejected or actively resisted the judgement of professionals who held negative opinions.

ISOLATION

It is realized that, close interaction from within may enhance ones feelings normality because the individual is surrounded by others who are similar. The process isolation can occur anytime outsiders are seen as threatening or are reminders that the world is different from an in-group.

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

In addition to the stigmatized individual family members have acquire a secondary stigma as a result of association and must deal with their own response to situations of enacted stigma 

PASSING

Passing oneself off as normal is one strategy used by individuals living with a stigmatizing condition. Pretending to have no disability or less stigmatic identity. Passing is a variable option for those with felt stigma associated with conditions such as type two diabetes or a positive AIDS antibody test but no symptoms. The process of passing may include the concealment of any sings of the stigma. Some individuals refuse to use adaptive devices such as hearing aids because this tells others of their disabilities. The practice of passing may significantly impair the health seeking behavior of the abused individual, particularly where sociocultural barriers to disclosure exist.

DEVALUING

People may believe that the people with the stigma are less valuable, less human or less desired. Devaluing result in enacted stigma as demonstrated by those who categories individuals as inferior or even dangerous. The use of words like cripple or moron also represents a devaluing of individuals.

STEREOTYPING

Categories simplify our lives. Instead of having to decide what to do in every situation, we can respond to categories of situations. Stereotype is a negative type of category. They are a social reaction to ambiguous situations and allow reacting to group expectations rather than to individuals. When individuals meet those with physical impairments, expectations are not clear. People are at a loss as to how to react, so placing the individual with chronic illness in a stereotyped category reduces the ambiguous towards him or her and makes the situation more comfortable for those doing the stereotyping. Much less effort is required to sustain a bias than is required to reconsider or alter it. Using stereotypes to understand individuals decreases our attention to other positive characteristics. Categorizing tends to make one see the world as dichotomy. Example are categorized as either mentally delayed or not, even though mental exist in a continuum, with all of us falling somewhere along the line. Responses such as scapegoating people with HIV and AIDS have increased the impact of this disease and delayed treatment. These responses also impede appropriate health educating aimed at prevention.

LABELING

The label attached to an individual’s condition is crucial and influences the way we think about that individual.  The diagnoses of HIV and AIDS are a powerful label, possibly resulting in the loss of relationships and jobs. People with learning disabilities may not mind been called slow learners, but may be stated by being called mentally retarded. Their response indicates that they see this this latter term as a negative label.