Stigma And Discrimination Essay

Register to read the introduction… It is insulting to be considered incapable of being as good as someone else without an illness. This happens particularly in the workplace, where jobs are not given due to the “unreliability” of mentally ill people. Most employers do not take the time to comprehend a possible candidate for a job with a mental illness, so they end up missing out on opportunities. This leads to ill persons rejecting the thought of being officially diagnosed. Stigma and discrimination can trap people in a cycle of illness. There are significant consequences to the public misperceptions and fears; stereotypes about mental health conditions have been used to justify bullying. For example, a child’s justification to abusing a fellow classmate on the basis that an illness they have, such as Autism, frustrates them. The child that cannot help but be a little delayed in responses or understanding will fall victim to the, either physical or verbal abuse that can affect him or her drastically. Some individuals have been denied adequate housing, health insurance and jobs due to their history of mental illness. Due to the shame associated with the illness, many people have found that they lose their self-esteem and have difficulty making friends. Sometimes, the stigma attached to mental health conditions is so pervasive that people who suspect that they might have a mental …show more content…
To be discriminated against is more of a burden than the illness itself. I have no firsthand experience of mental illness, nor do I know of anyone who may be in the situation to speak from experience, although statistics suggest that in my lifetime I will, or I may even already do so, but that person is too afraid of social exclusion to speak out and seek the help they desperately need. But I can be proud to say that I am aware of what a slip of the tongue could do to someone that is in distress due to their illness. It particularly irritates me when people decide to use the possibility of having a mentally disability as an insult. Say someone is having a bad day, I hear people telling them they are “bipolar”. I fail to understand in what way it acceptable to brand someone with an illness they may or may not have. It must be torture for people who truly do have some form of mental illness to hear others joking about such a serious condition. An example that is used more frequently, especially within the teenage generation, is referring to being upset as “being depressed”. People are completely blind to what true depression is. Clinical depression is a serious medical illness which requires attention and care. Dismissal of the idea of depression is common as, often, the patient is not usually physically affected and their suffering