I personally don’t recall observing discrimination toward people with mental illness (M.I.), other than being in public and seeing people staring at others or ignoring them because they seem to be different. Just as people might stare at someone with a physical disability because he doesn’t look like them, so people might stare at someone with M.I. because he doesn’t act the way they do.
Link and Phelan describe internalized discrimination as
something learned at an early age. I
believe that providing education about mental illness at an early age is one of
the best ways to help to prevent this type of discrimination.
A conference was held in May 2001 which included the
National Institutes of Health as one of the sponsors. It examined the causes and consequences of
stigma regarding various types of physical and emotional illness. It indicated that this type of stigma would
continue to increase. Individuals with
stigmatizing diseases are less likely to seek appropriate professional
assistance. Social stigma, therefore, is
a global health concern. A video of the
conference is available online and is a good resource to help educate people
who want to avoid being guilty of stigmatizing others.
Through socialization, people learn at a young age about
stigma toward those who are different.
Again, education can help to prevent this.
Another Web site offers ways to support people with M.I. I feel that some of the ideas listed at this
Web site represent excellent ways to intervene on behalf of people with M.I. Advocacy is one example of working to prevent
direct discrimination.Policy makers can provide specific financial support to help people with M.I. Thus, policy makers can intervene by being advocates on behalf of those who are mentally ill.
Other examples of advocacy include promoting participation
in formulating care plans and crisis plans for people with M.I., creating
user-led and user-run services, and developing peer-support worker roles in
mainstream mental-health care.
One good way to provide structural intervention for people
with M.I. is by encouraging employers to make appropriate adjustments
for them – for example, by allowing them to use headphones to block out
distracting noise, having a quieter workplace with fewer distractions, and
offering flexible work schedules so that employees can work at their peak
levels and have time off for medical appointments when needed.
My daughter is an SLP and is an excellent advocate for people with various types of physical and mental disabilities. She has told me about children who are teased or have difficulties in school because of their disabilities. She strives to provide the best possible care for all of her patients, regardless of their conditions. Even outside of her job, she works as a volunteer with children experiencing a variety of disadvantages and tries to improve their situations.
Good resources for people who are interested in advocating
for people with M.I. include the following Web sites.
www.stigmaconference.nih.gov
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