¿WHY MICROSTIGMAS?
Stigma is not only the discrimination that suffer some stigmatized minority groups. It also affects all the people who live in a our society; people with diverse personal characteristics.
Day by day we observe that there are subtle, automated, almost imperceptible behaviors that are stigmatizing and that many of us implement even with “good intentions”, without the express objective of excluding anyone. These are small comments, jokes, non-verbal behaviors, which maintain and deepen the stigma. We call these behaviors microstigmas and they are actions, attitudes or comments that perpetuate stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination and that can go unnoticed or be considered normal or harmless. As you can discover in this book, there are many examples of microstigmas, such as: speaking childishly to an adult because they have a disability, assuming that their abilities are diminished; feel sorry for people with problems, without understanding that they can lead a full life; assume that a person with a psychological disorder will not be able to study or work normally. Being such repeated and established behaviors in social interactions, they easily dissolve into a nebula of acceptance and a lack of perception of the damage they can cause.
Microstigmas may seem harmless, funny, curious and we believe they are minor and less important stigmas. By calling them “micro” we can be tempted to think that they are small stigmatizations with little effect. Nothing could be further from the truth. Microstigmas involve small behaviors, but the effect is enormous, they are very harmful for stigmatized people and, perhaps, the worst exponents of discrimination.
The book of Microstigmas
The UCM Chair – Group 5 Against Stigma presents “The Book of Microstigmas”, a book illustrated by DOMMCOBB that collects the experiences and first-person voices of homeless people, with mental health problems, elderly people, childhood and families at social exclusion risk, people with disabilities, people with brain damage and people with eating disorders. They talk about the behaviors that harm them and we contribute to increase the discrimination and the labeling associated.
