Sarah Blithe:
Stigma affects society in some pretty
important ways. First off. it impacts
Sarah Blithe:
how people relate to each other, and kind
of a classic example is the invisibility
Sarah Blithe:
that people who are homeless sometimes feel. We are classically conditioned to
Sarah Blithe:
walk by people who are homeless without
looking at them, and so
Sarah Blithe:
it impacts this human interaction that we can have and the relationships that we have.
Sarah Blithe:
Stigma also impacts how groups interact with
each other. We still have institutional
Sarah Blithe:
discrimination, for example, where certain
groups of people don't get bank loans in
Sarah Blithe:
the same proportions as other groups of
people based on their social identity
Sarah Blithe:
and who someone thinks they are. So
reducing stigma has benefits for both
Sarah Blithe:
individuals and as a society. I'm
teaching a class right now called Stigma
Sarah Blithe:
and Communication , and I designed the
class with the idea that we can reduce
Sarah Blithe:
stigma. In this class, we've taken field
trips - we actually we went to a brothel.
Sarah Blithe:
We are doing a service-learning project so
students are working with other students
Sarah Blithe:
with disabilities. They're serving people
who are homeless ... they are volunteering
Sarah Blithe:
in a variety of kinds of organizations.
We also then brought panelists and guest
Sarah Blithe:
speakers in. I've
tried to make it as engaging as possible
Sarah Blithe:
so that the students are actually
meeting different people and engaging in
Sarah Blithe:
populations, in hopes that the students
will walk away with a different perspective.
Cody Freeman:
I chose to go volunteer at
We Care Volunteers, which is feeding
Cody Freeman:
every homeless person in town.
Previously I had a stigma towards
Cody Freeman:
homelessness. I thought, you know, they
were dirty, violent, they fought.
Cody Freeman:
They chose to be homeless. And, by being
out there and interacting with the
Cody Freeman:
homeless population in town. I realized
that I couldn't be more wrong. These
Cody Freeman:
people are so thankful to have a warm
meal ... they're so friendly ... they're kind ...
Cody Freeman:
they're asking each other to go ahead
of each other in line because everyone's
Cody Freeman:
in there and they understand their
hardships.
Francheska Alves:
And with my service-learning project in the class was probably one of
Francheska Alves:
my biggest takeaways. I worked with Step Two. It's a
treatment facility here in Reno for all
Francheska Alves:
women that have a substance-use disorder,
and it lets the women obtain custody of
Francheska Alves:
their children while in treatment and I
think my biggest takeaway was just
Francheska Alves:
seeing how there is even stigma on these
women trying to be in recovery and get treatment.
Daniel Lindbergh Lang:
I thought about how - when we
visited the brothel - we had learned about
Daniel Lindbergh Lang:
just the types of clients they had. Where
sometimes it would be people with
Daniel Lindbergh Lang:
disabilities, and I'd realize that people
with disabilities, a lot of times they're
Daniel Lindbergh Lang:
stigmatized in society and don't have
ways to get sexual experiences.
Daniel Lindbergh Lang:
So meeting people who work in the sex
industry, I realized that they help those
Daniel Lindbergh Lang:
people who otherwise wouldn't have an
opportunity to have that kind of service.
Cody Freeman:
We talked about sex workers and we
talked about brothels ... you can even take
Cody Freeman:
it to a level talking about blue-collar
jobs; for example, we're cultivated as a
Cody Freeman:
society to think perhaps a plumber ... a
plumber is always going to be an
Cody Freeman:
overweight male who always has a butt
crack hanging out; but in reality it can
Cody Freeman:
be anybody. It can be a female ... it can be
a skinny male ... it can be somebody who is
Cody Freeman:
just providing for their family, because
it is a very lucrative career to have.
Cody Freeman:
So we're cultivated to think this way
negatively about a certain person when
Cody Freeman:
in reality, it's it's a great career
opportunity.
Francheska Alves:
Using the use of language and empathy I think in
Francheska Alves:
the class is what
really helped all of us see the
Francheska Alves:
bigger picture of stigma that stigma shouldn't
even be a thing you know it's something
Francheska Alves:
that's just like implied on people
because they don't know how to group
Francheska Alves:
them or title them so they just plant
this stigma on them that they're bad or
Francheska Alves:
they're negative for us. Changing the
language the way that you address people
Francheska Alves:
and talk to them no matter what they're
going through can just break that whole
Francheska Alves:
stigma because I think that's really
what's created the stigma is like trashy
Francheska Alves:
or dirty or addiction ... whatever those
words may be, that's where the stigma comes from.
Andrée Alcalá:
I think education plays a
great part in how stigma is reproduced in society, and if we start
Andrée Alcalá:
addressing that issue from academia, for example. I think it's the biggest
Andrée Alcalá:
place where you can start that ripple
that will get people talking about it
Andrée Alcalá:
and that will start making people want
to change things.
Daniel Lang:
My biggest take away from Sarah Blithe's class is to always
lead with compassion. I think so often, I
Daniel Lang:
used to walk by someone, like a homeless
person on the street, and just turn my
Daniel Lang:
head away or at least kind of not look
at them ... but now I realize that just
Daniel Lang:
walking up to them, looking them in the
eyes and saying hi can change a life.
Cody Freeman:
Now as I'm walking through life, I'm able to
use these skills that I've learned in
Cody Freeman:
Sarah Blithe's class to view the world in
a complete different manner
Cody Freeman:
and to be able to to make those connections of
when I may be stigmatizing a group of people
Cody Freeman:
and break it down from there, and
think about why am I doing that?
Cody Freeman:
And when you can think about why you're doing
that, you're able to make change.
Cody Freeman:
And if you're able to make change, you can share
that change with other people.
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