A training seminar I recently attended for work focused on diversity, stereotyping, and stigma, which really resonated with the readings from this week. Our seminar began with an activity, in which each participant received a page of photos and a list of professions. We were asked to match the profession of the individuals to each photo. The exercise was very interesting because we all felt very strongly about the career choice we chose, yet many of us chose different careers for the same individual. It really goes to show that your experiences shape your perceptions and that no matter how alike we may seem, we are all very different. Embracing difference and diversity allows us to open ourselves up to new ideas and new experiences through the eyes of others. We may learn new things or gain a new perspective.
I work for a non-profit organization that provides services to individuals with intellectual disabilities and brain injuries, as well as their families. The training seminar was valuable in that it focused a great deal on stigmatization of our clients. We were forced to take new perspectives and see the world through others eyes, and what I found is that things that may seem different, really aren’t so different at all. For instance, we talked about how many choices we get to make through the day. Many of our clients live in residences with 24/7 caregivers who do not allow them many choices. Although the caregiver may have the best intentions, forcing a routine upon another person would make anyone angry. I have a routine in the shower. First I wash my hair, then I apply conditioner. While allowing the conditioner to soak in, I shave my legs and wash my body, and then wash the conditioner out last. If I had an accident, suffered from brain damage, and could no longer care for myself (as is the case with many of our clients), I would appreciate having a caregiver who recognizes that something as small as allowing me to choose my shower routine is huge. Often our clients do not get these choices, and as a result, display inappropriate behavior. That behavior leads others to stigmatize mental illness because it is different from social norms. Yet in the grand scheme of things, if you put yourself in their shoes, you would be upset, too. We are often so quick to judge the disabled based on a defining characteristic. We begin to treat that person as though that part of them encompasses their entire being. Schneider, Gruman, and Coutts (2012) identify this mentality as “master status.” Master status is a feature that we pick up on about an individual, and then judge the person through the lens of that feature, while ignoring other aspects of their person. It is so easy to judge an autistic clients’ strange emotional behavior as deficient, but if you really take the time to search deeper, it isn’t so different from you or I at all.
References:
Schneider, F., Gruman, J., & Coutts, L. (2012). Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.