Unit One: Developmental Disabilities

This is basically a study set about chapter 2 of the Stigma unit.

What is stigma?

A social process that marks, marginalizes, or devalues individuals or groups.

Where can stigma appear?

Public attitudes, internalized beliefs, relationships, language, media portrayals, laws, policies, and organizations.

What can stigma contribute to?

Discrimination and unequal outcomes.

What does it mean to marginalize someone?

Discrimination and unequal outcomes.

What is discrimination?

Unequal or unfair treatment based on characteristic or identity.

What did the word “stigma” originally refer to?

A mark or stain on a person’s reputation.

What did the Latin word stigma refer to?

A physical mark or puncture on the skin used to identify criminals, enslaved people, or traitors.

How has the meaning of stigma changed overtime?

It expanded from a physical mark to a social judgment labeling someone as undesirable or inferior.

Does stigma mean the same thing in every culture?

No. Stigma changes depending on culture, historical period, and social context.

Where does stigma exist?

In the relationship between an individual and the larger group that defines or imposes the stigma.

What is intersectionality?

The way multiple or intersecting identities that affect a person’s experiences of stigma and social treatment.

What identities can intersect with disability?

Gender, race, age, social class, and other identities.

Why is intersectionality important when studying stigma?

People with multiple identities may experience stigma in different or more complicated ways.

Who developed an important framework fo runderstanding stigma?

Sociologist Erving Goffman

What work by Goffman is discussed in this chapter?

Stigma and the Management of the Spoiled Identity.

What are Goffman’s three sources of Stigma?

Physical deformity, character defect, and tribal exclusion.

What is physical deformity in Goffman’s framework?

A visible physical difference or conditions that others view negatively.

What is character deficit?

A behavior, personality trait, or perceived moral failing that causes others to judge someone negatively.

What is tribal exclusion?

Stigma connected to membership in a socially excluded group, such as a racial, ethnic, or religious group.

What is discredited identity?

A stigmatized identity that is already immediately known or visible to others.

What is discreditable identity?

A stigmatized identity that is not immediately known or visible to others.

What is the key difference between discredited and discreditable?

• Discredited = known/visible

• Discreditable = not yet known/visible

What issue is especially important for a person with a discreditable identity?

Deciding whether, when, and how to disclose the stigmatized characteristic.

What are the four major types of stigma?

• Public/social stigma

• Internalized/private stigma

• Affiliate stigma

• Structural stigma

What is (social) public stigma?

Negative attitudes, stereotypes, and judgements held by society toward people with disabilities.

What is (private) internalized stigma?

When a person absorbs society’s negative beliefs about them or their disability and adopts them as beliefs about themselves.

What are the possible effects of internalized stigma?

Shame, low self-esteem, negative self-beliefs, internalized oppression, and self-isolation.

What is self-isolation?

Withdrawing from other people, possibly as a result of shame or stigma.

What is affiliate stigma?

Stigma experienced because of a person’s connection to someone with a disability.

Who might experience affiliate stigma?

Family members, friends, caregivers, or other people associated with someone who is stigmatized.

What is stigma-by-association?

Another term for affiliate stigma.

What is structural stigma?

Stigma embedded in laws, policies, organizations, institutions, or media systems.

Can structural stigma exist without individuals openly expressing prejudice?

Yes. It can operate through the structure, rules, policies, and practices of systems.

How can stigma lead to discrimination?

Negative beliefs can lead to unequal treatment, restricted opportunities, exclusion, or institutional decisions that disadvantage people with disabilities

What areas can stigma affect?

Psychiatric hospital locations, institutional practices, marriage rates, income, and mortality rates.

What are institutional practices?

The structures, rules, routines, and practices within institutions that may produce exclusion or unequal treatment.

Can an institution discriminate through its structure or purpose?

Yes. An institution's structure, rules, routines, or practices may produce unequal treatment even without deliberate prejudice by every individual.

What U.S. average age at death is given in the chapter?

78.5 years.W

Which four states are given as examples of lower reported ages at death?

Louisiana, New York, Connecticut, and Ohio

What age range was reported for the four lower states that had lower reported ages at death?

50.4 to 58.7 years.

What age range was reported in the Medicaid data set?

61.2 to 63.0 years.

What do the morality disparities illustrate?

How unequal outcomes may be connected to a broader social and structural conditions.

What is Stigma Busters?

A response to stigma presented as an effort to challenge stigmatizing attitudes and practices.

What does addressing stigma require?

Attention to both individual attitudes and larger systems that produce unequal treatment.

What is the overall connection between stigma and discrimination?

Stigma can create negative beliefs and attitudes that lead to discrimination and unequal social, economic, institutional, and health outcomes.

• So stigma eventually becomes discrimination

What does ADA stand for? What is the ADA?

• Americans with Disabilities Act

• A law concerning equal opportunity and the rights of individuals with disabilities.

What must city and state governments provide under the ADA?

Equal opportunity regarding public buildings

What is a reasonable accommodation?

An accommodation or adjustment that allows a person with a disability to have equal opportunity or participate.

What does IDEA stand for?

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

What does IDEA require for children with disabilities?

Public schools must accommodate children with disabilities and include an IEP.

What does IEP stand for? What is an IEP?

• Individualized Education Plan.

• An IEP provides an individualized education plan for a child with a disability.

Can a public school charge a child for disability accommodations?

No. The child cannot be charged for the accommodations because of IDEA.

What were the Sit-Ins?

A disability rights movement action in which individuals with disabilities occupied federal buildings across the United States.

Why did individuals with disabilities occupy federal buildings during the Sit-Ins?

To visually demonstrate the difficulties and barriers they experienced.

What are eugenics?

A attempt by a government or large group to share human genetics toward a certain group in an effort to “genetically improve” the population.

What was one harmful practice associated with eugenics discussed in the chapter?

Forced sterilization

What was the goal of eugenics?

To supposedly “genetically improve” the population by controlling which traits or groups were reproduced.

Locke v. Bell

Eugenics/forced sterilization case associated with the phrase “three generations of imbeciles are enough,”

What happened to Locke in the court case discussed in chapter 2?

She was pregnant, was sent to an institution, and the board voted to sterilize her and take her baby away.

What later Supreme Court result did the review mention regarding sterilization?

The review notes that another Supreme Court case stated that it was unconstitutional to sterilize her or anyone with a disability.

Olmstead

Right to live in the least restrictive setting

What took place in the Olmstead case discussed in chapter 2?

Two sisters were kept in an institutional hospital even though they could live outside the institution based on what their doctors said.

What does “least restrictive setting” mean in the context of the review?

People should be able to live outside an institution when they can do so rather than being unnecessarily confined to an institution.

What major issue foes the Olmstead case address?

Institution and the right of people with disabilities to live in the community rather than unnecessarily being kept in institutions.