Confronting Stigma
The negative presumptions and judgements that affect people who use drugs, are homeless, work in sex work, or are otherwise marginalized in our society are called STIGMAs.
When we explore the topics explored in Street College, stigmas will present themselves. The negative stories that we hold about ourselves and each other, based on cultural scripts can involve some of (or variations of) the following:
Service providers, peers and community members can all hold and demonstrate stigma in a variety of ways including:
Discrimination that results from societal stigma has real impacts on people who use drugs, people who are perceived to use drugs, and other overlapping experiences of marginalization. Challenging discriminatory practices on large meaningful levels requires individuals, as well as the systems they work within, to challenge beliefs that have become cultural norms. This is a work that non-drug users must engage in, in ways that may involve compassion, empathy, listening and theoretical shifts. Drug users also carry an internalized stigma, and this work still requires compassion but is one of personal healing, competence and confidence building.
Utilizing tools (like the resource below from The Harm Reduction Coalition) to explore and dismantle stigma is a key part of engaging peers respectfully.
http://harmreduction.org/issue-area/issue-drugs-drug-users/understanding-drug-related-stigma/
Stigma Presentation from AVI: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tLk3d8q8WcMtF0-UJFgYNeeMFgDBFlC-xxCe7LfsjTQ/edit?usp=sharing
See also: STIGMA Section here.
The negative presumptions and judgements that affect people who use drugs, are homeless, work in sex work, or are otherwise marginalized in our society are called STIGMAs.
When we explore the topics explored in Street College, stigmas will present themselves. The negative stories that we hold about ourselves and each other, based on cultural scripts can involve some of (or variations of) the following:
- Drug users should get sober and “contribute to society”.
- Sex work is inherently exploitative.
- People who continue to use opioids in today's conditions have no will to live.
Service providers, peers and community members can all hold and demonstrate stigma in a variety of ways including:
- Discounting the desires, capacities or potential of drug users based on their use histories
- Dismissing individuals/desires as drug or attention seeking
Discrimination that results from societal stigma has real impacts on people who use drugs, people who are perceived to use drugs, and other overlapping experiences of marginalization. Challenging discriminatory practices on large meaningful levels requires individuals, as well as the systems they work within, to challenge beliefs that have become cultural norms. This is a work that non-drug users must engage in, in ways that may involve compassion, empathy, listening and theoretical shifts. Drug users also carry an internalized stigma, and this work still requires compassion but is one of personal healing, competence and confidence building.
Utilizing tools (like the resource below from The Harm Reduction Coalition) to explore and dismantle stigma is a key part of engaging peers respectfully.
http://harmreduction.org/issue-area/issue-drugs-drug-users/understanding-drug-related-stigma/
Stigma Presentation from AVI: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1tLk3d8q8WcMtF0-UJFgYNeeMFgDBFlC-xxCe7LfsjTQ/edit?usp=sharing
See also: STIGMA Section here.