#addressing stigmas

[wellhealthhub]

Cultivating Meaningful Change Through the Well Health Hub

What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world? Welcome to the realm of the Well Health Hub, an innovative platform dedicated to effecting positive change on a global scale by nurturing well-being, promoting health education, and fostering empowerment. Within the pages of our blog, a vision unfolds—one that encompasses both the grand and the intricate, intertwining to…

[tyrannuspitch]

how empathy is described and framed is so biased as well lol. like. i have avpd, and part of the long version of the avpd diagnostic criteria is "highly empathetic, BUT with perception of others' emotions skewed towards the negative" - so, you know, arguably pretty shit at empathy, actually, if we don't understand what other people are feeling.

but from personal experience and what i've heard from other people with the disorder, this isn't even necessarily... true? like, people with AvPD have this reputation as ~quiet, sympathetic, non-problem patients~ so of course we ~must~ have high empathy... but our whole fucking thing is avoidance and detachment.

lots of pwAvPD emotionally withdraw and feel they *cannot* connect to others. lots of pwAvPD find they can't make sense of others' emotions among all the anxious *noise* in their head, so they give up even trying. lots of pwAvPD feel like they're a prey animal and every other person in the world is a predator. lots of pwAvPD like... get paranoid, get jealous, hold grudges, and stereotype people to determine who's "safe", and so on. we're not just helpless martyrs. we have "ugly" symptoms sometimes too.

i think, most of the time, what gets called "high empathy" in pwAvPD is just high sensitivity - to guilt, to shame, to fear, to despair. but because we're apparently "the good ones", it's "empathy" when we feel it, and "highly strung", "fragile ego", "mood swings", and so on when people with "problem disorders" experience the exact same thing.

and tbqh, what this probably comes down to is that our symptoms generally suppress our ability to express rage, while these so-called problem patients' symptoms enable them to. so psychiatry takes it upon itself to suppress it for them.

[ourstarsystem]

even though i feel like i can confidently tell when a piece of art is generative A/I, i really don't feel inclined or really even justified calling someone out for it due to the precedent it sets - especially when artists who DO make their own pieces get caught in the crossfire for being inexperienced or making the choice to be more free-form when it comes to character design / consistency...

[endawna]

yeah pax still hasn’t fully come to terms with his vampirism

[wayward-sherlock]

i am now putting dirty dancing on my watch list exclusively because of the fic

@kaiminluu and i consider this the biggest win ever. thank you.

[ammanannaanadhhaashramam]

Amma Nanna Anadha Ashramam Facing Challenges Facing Challenges

Amma Nanna Orphanage plays a vital role in addressing social problems, particularly in the care of orphans. Despite their noble intentions and efforts, Amma Nanna Orphanage faces many challenges that impact their ability to provide comprehensive care.

Financial Constraints

It relies heavily on donations, grants, and sponsorships to support its activities for orphans. However, it faces significant challenges due to inconsistent or insufficient funding.

Difficulty in meeting basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter.

Limited access and healthcare.

Delays in infrastructural improvements or repairs within the ashramas.

Staffing and Volunteer Retention

require a dedicated workforce to manage the daily needs of orphans. 

They are struggle with:

Recruiting skilled professionals and healthcare providers, due to budget constraints.

Retaining volunteers and staff who may find the work emotionally taxing or financially unrewarding.

Training staff to handle orphans with diverse emotional and psychological needs.

Regulatory and Bureaucratic Challenges

Ammananna Ashramam must comply with various legal and administrative requirements to operate ashramas. These include:

Obtaining and renewing licenses and permits.

Navigating complex bureaucratic processes, which can be time-consuming and resource-intensive.

Emotional and Psychological Support for Orphans

Orphans often experience trauma, loss, and abandonment, requiring specialized emotional and psychological care. Challenges in this area include:

Limited access to trained counselors or psychologists.

Lack of sufficient resources to implement structured programs for emotional well-being.

Social Integration and Stigma

Orphans in orphanages sometimes face social discrimination and challenges in integrating into mainstream society.

Resistance from communities in accepting orphans as equals.

Difficulty in ensuring equal opportunities for employment.

Prejudice that hampers the orphans self-esteem and development.

Pandemic and Natural Disasters

The COVID-19 pandemic and other natural disasters have exacerbated existing challenges for Amma Nanna Ahsramam. They have had to deal with:

Increased health risks and the need for additional sanitation measures.

Disruptions in funding and supply chains.

Difficulty in maintaining regular healthy food, cothings, and recreational activities due to lockdowns.

Conclusion:

While Amma nanna Ashramam play a vital role in providing care for orphans, they face a multitude of challenges that require urgent attention. By addressing financial, staffing, regulatory, and societal issues, these organizations can create a more supportive and nurturing environment for orphans. Collective efforts from governments, communities, and individuals are essential to ensure the sustainability and effectiveness of ashramas in transforming the lives of orphans.

[justsaying4041]

Mental Health Struggles in the Classroom - The struggle and Available Supports

Mental health challenges among students have become increasingly prevalent, posing significant obstacles to both learning and classroom dynamics. Anxiety, depression, ADHD, and trauma-related conditions are among the most common struggles that educators encounter. Addressing these issues effectively is crucial, as mental health directly impacts students’ academic performance, behavior, and…

[innerchildabortionclinic]

>Addressing stigma, the authors point out that clinicians are among the “worst offenders” in perpetuating negative stereotypes. They frequently pathologize individuals with this diagnosis, treating them as just “another borderline.” This can lead to inappropriate or even inadequate care, as “emotional instability” is sometimes used as grounds for excluding individuals from treatment.

THIS LITERALLY HAPPENED TO ME. A social worker excluded me from a program because I might be "combative" based on diagnosis alone

[shaadelyfe]

Empowering Mental Health: The Importance of Supporting Others

Supporting others with Mental Health Issues – Learn the significance of providing support to individuals with mental health challenges, the importance of reducing stigma, and practical ways to help, along with available community resources and the benefits of meditation for mental well-being. Introduction: Understanding the Significance of Supporting Others with Mental Health Issues Supporting…

[whetstonefires]

idk, there's a lot of social degradation traditionally associated with being a married-in husband, which is one of the many reasons he'd hate it, but i haven't read anything to the effect that--in the absence of any other male family members--he doesn't retain the considerable legal rights of a husband? relative to the wife herself?

the subservient position of the zhuixu is relative to the wife's family, his inlaws, who own the house and are presumably on her side against him. he is symbolically emasculated. he has given up the right and duty to perpetuate his own lineage that are supposed to place the husband at the center of the family.

a lot of the structural elements that traditionally leave the wife vulnerable are thus reversed.

but these are immediate, personal elements, or symbolic social ones. not broad legal ones. because this sort of marriage is not intended as a deconstruction or evasion of the patriarchy, but as a maneuver to maintain the continuity that holds patriarchy in place. at the expense of the individual man involved.

that's why there's so much shame attached to the feminizing position of married-in husband; if it wasn't degrading and bad for the individual man, it might work to lower the relative status of men-as-a-whole and have a broader egalitarian impact, which was to be avoided. (modern matrilocal marriages are coming from a more women's rights place and the backlash reflects that, but the anxieties in play haven't changed, only the balance.)

so, therefore, that lowering is a social and customary one, more than it is legal. and legally, the husband of the sole heiress to an estate gets that estate.

normally, to add to the property of his own family, which he per normal marriage scenario still belongs to, but like. a man without his family behind him is a stripped and lonely thing, but he possesses legal adult status in a way a woman did not. he may be half a man but he is a man yet.

shen jiu can't take the money back to his natal family, but he almost certainly doesn't know who they are anyway and wouldn't want to, fuck 'em. with her family dead, a lot of the disadvantages of being married in become less pronounced.

in modern chinese property law, women can inherit property in their own right with no quibbling, so the modern matrilocally married man can be cleanly excluded. but historically, a great deal of ink was spilled in the desperate attempt to patch all loopholes allowing women to legally hold and or control inheritances.

obviously this means all loopholes were being used, but at that point you're in a situation where how things play out comes down to the personalities involved. qiu haitang is simply not going to be fighting shen jiu for full dominance over the money.

even if she did a lot of growing up, he would have to alienate her really badly for that to happen.

(honestly a very probable eventual outcome of this is for him to get more and more neurotic due to the psychological pressures of this situation, and the disrespect he was getting, and the gap between his theoretical and actual social position, until something happens that leads to qht forming the idea that he murdered her brother for the inheritance, and then the already profoundly strained marriage implodes.)

like, shen jiu's function is to get a son on qiu haitang so her family line can continue, both of them are effectively reduced to vessels of reproductive transmission, but in the meantime he is the man of the house in this scenario.

inasmuch as he can get anyone to acknowledge that, which is the tricky bit. because it's not his family house and lineage, after all. he hasn't got one.

if he started irresponsibly frittering away the estate, he'd probably have to be dragged to court to make him stop. because no specific person would have the clear power to make him stop unilaterally--he might have married into his wife's family, but that doesn't literally make her his husband.

he'd lose the case, probably, especially if the intended son of qiu in whose name he could be said to act did not actually exist yet, but not necessarily so much because the law was clear, as because socially speaking there would be more on-the-spot interest in enforcing his subaltern status than his wife's, since she wasn't the one getting above herself, and her interests and those of the qiu line could be assumed in alignment.

and also shen jiu is canonically unwilling to defend himself in court lmao.

so what any possible cousins of qiu haitang's think about all this, if they exist, would be very important to how it played out.

in summary, neither qiu haitang nor shen jiu is in a position to inherit in a clean and legally unburdened manner, due to various layers of class and gender (but mostly gender) fuckery, but i'm confident that in the absence of organized opposition he would definitely stand as the acting master of the house, if only to hold it in trust for his future son.

he almost certainly wouldn't really take the qiu name though, that would be deeply weird. i just wanted that punchline.

So you know how Qiu Jianluo betrothed his little sister to her favorite plaything, a slave he had really conspicuously not manumitted? And it's creepy for a bunch of reasons including that one of the motives was, it meant he could avoid marrying her out of his household?

So notably, there was a longstanding institution irl of indenturing little girls so they grew up doing domestic labor as bondswomen, and then when one grew up the master was supposed to find her a good husband, using his much better resources than her family had.

Managing to turn this into a daughter-in-law audition by making yourself indispensable to the household, so they'd marry you in and up, was sort of the brass ring lol. I don't think it happened that much for real but it makes such a good story, right?

Shen Jiu was doing this trope gender reversed and very much against his will, which I think goes on the list of gendered tropes getting fucked with.

But seriously, if he had married Qiu Haitang and her brother dropped dead, like. What would that situation have looked like? I think that would make Shen Jiu the legitimate inheritor of the Qiu estate, since Airplane in his wife collection narrative had no reason to alter the historical fiction norm (even more emphatic than the historical norm) that women could only function as vessels of transmission for real property, rather than direct heirs.

Except he'd have to get his manumission officialized first, probably?? So irregular.

Also tho, imagine Yue Qingyuan shows up at the gates having fractured his own soul in desperation to get back and he arrives to find not a smoking ruin, but a household headed by the scrawny angry teenage master of the estate, Qiu Jiu.

[reasonsforhope]

"With a swath of U.S. cities adopting policies that would outlaw homeless encampments, advocates for unhoused people are working to fight stigmas against “tent cities.”

A new study out of the University of Colorado shows that involuntary sweeps of these camps do not improve public safety, for instance. And in San Diego, initiatives like safe sleeping camps work to provide transitional support to people with nowhere else to go.

Now, the city of Saginaw, Michigan, is taking a similar approach to address homelessness. 

The City Council has announced a community partnership to establish temporary legal encampments for homeless residents displaced from a site under an interstate overpass.

“We decided to be proactive and try to establish a place where we can provide some very basic amenities that drastically improve the health, safety, and dignity of the folks in that area,” City Councilwoman Carly Rose Hammond told Mid-Michigan Now. 

She added that the initiative aims to “have a positive impact on all the neighborhoods and businesses surrounding it.”

Hammond acknowledged that the plan is not designed to be a permanent solution, but it does allow those experiencing homelessness at least a little more dignity and support.

“What a legal encampment allows us to do is say, ‘Hey, we already know that these people are here. Even if we come out and destroy people’s stuff, they’re going to come back,” she told WNEM 5. 

“So, what can we do to provide some basic amenities and some necessities to help so that the environment is relatively clean and relatively safe?’”

Saginaw is not a major city, but it is part of the Greater Tri-Cities Region of Central Michigan, which has an estimated population of about 378,000 people. 

According to Saginaw’s 2024 Point in Time Count, there are approximately 325 individuals experiencing homelessness at any given time. And with the housing crisis on the rise, officials are hoping this move will provide more relief.

“We’ve seen the housing crisis climb and climb and climb, we’ve had more and more fallout from those social issues,” Hammond added to Mid-Michigan Now. “So [we’re] addressing this problem head-on, providing a temporary solution, and a pathway forward.”

Organizations like La Misión are part of the city’s plan to include nonprofits, businesses, community advocates, and neighbors in ensuring the success of the initiative. 

Veronica Vela, who leads La Misión, said legal and accessible encampments are vital to connecting with people who need urgent resources.

“We’re out here. We actually know names there. They know us,” Vela told Mid-Michigan Now. “So when they see my truck, they’re gonna come up to my truck. So it’s more of a relationship that we have with them.”

By allowing people the space to build community in a designated and safe location, caseworkers and on-the-ground advocates can get people the help they need with more speed and consistency.

The city also plans to form a permanent subcommittee to address homelessness — ideally before it begins.

While the timeline of this new initiative — as well as the specific services it will provide — remain unclear at this time, Hammond promises a step in the right direction.

“What’s going to come out of this is a healthier, safer environment for everyone,” she told Mid-Michigan now. “We can work on long-term solutions, rather than just kicking the problem around and kicking it down the road.”"

-via March 14, 2025

[utsaahpsychologyclinic]

Addressing the connection between poverty and mental health problems requires a comprehensive approach that includes social policies, improved access to healthcare and mental health services, education, and efforts to reduce social stigma. Providing economic support, mental health education, and resources to individuals and families living in poverty can help break the cycle and improve overall mental well-being.

Check out the post to know more about it...

[itgetsbetter]

FREE downloadable guide to nonbinary language in Spanish - spread the word! 💛🤍💜🖤

How do we take a traditionally gendered language like Spanish and adapt it to be more gender inclusive?

Language is a powerful tool - this new EduGuide is amplifying non-binary voices, dismantling stigmas, and teaching us how to take a traditionally gendered language and adapt it to be more inclusive.

Our pals at It Gets Better Mexico collaborated with Homosensual to address this crucial issue within the language — download their guide for FREE and share it around to friends, family, your school, and your community: itgetsbetter.org/blog/spanish-eduguide-for-the-inclusion-of-nonbinary-people

Education like this helps create a space where every identity is seen and celebrated!

---------

El lenguaje es una herramienta poderosa - esta nueva EduGuide amplifica las voces no binaries, desmantela los estigmas y nos enseña cómo tomar un lenguaje tradicionalmente basado en género y adaptarlo para que sea más inclusivo.

Nuestres amigis de It Gets Better México colaboraron con Homosensual para abordar este tema crucial dentro del idioma — descarga tú guía GRATIS y compártala con amigues, familiares, tú escuela y tú comunidad para participar en estas importantes conversations: itgetsbetter.org/blog/spanish-eduguide-for-the-inclusion-of-nonbinary-people

¡Una educación como esta ayuda a crear un espacio donde se ve y se celebra cada identidad!

[creature-wizard]

We gotta be able to talk about how dangerous it is that Republican leaders think they're following God's "voice" without throwing people with actual psychotic disorders under the bus.

These people are not psychotic. They are not delusional. They have been taught how to focus on and listen to a particular part of their own minds that hold certain ideas and values, and to obey it whenever it "speaks." And I think pretty much anyone can train themselves to focus on and listen to some part of their mind or other. (This is what a lot of spirit channelers are doing, by the way.)

This kind of ableism has been a problem among critics of far right Christianity for a long time now, and it simply does not help. It fails to address and criticize what's actually happening which leaves people unaware of what the real problem is, which can leave them vulnerable to falling into it themselves. It also contributes to shame and stigma around those who suffer from actual psychotic disorders, which isn't just wrong for its own sake, but also benefits the far right by making it easier for them to pathologize anything they don't like or don't understand.

[trans-axolotl]

ID: [A poster created by Sean Saifa Wall and Micah Bazant of a Black parent holding their child. They are dressed in white and almost seem to be glowing, in front of a backdrop of multicolored waves that look like DNA strands. Colorful text reads "Protect Intersex Youth."]

"A Framework for Intersex Justice

Intersex justice is medical justice. Intersex surgeries hurt everyone.

These medical violations bring immediate harm to the child who is subjected to them.

Parents who consent to medically unnecessary surgeries participate in a culture of shame, silence and stigma, perpetuated by doctors, that allows these surgeries to continue. Parents are often left to fend for themselves as they navigate shame and guilt. The issue of parents consenting to these surgeries is especially complex when societies believe that children don’t have individual rights and that parents are always acting in their best interest.

Medical practitioners such as pediatricians, obstetricians, urologists, social workers, and endocrinologists all play a role in upholding an institution that continues to harm children with intersex variations. The practitioners, in turn, are protected by hospitals and state laws that grant them immunity.

This is why intersex justice is important.

Although the framework is evolving, the following is a definition of intersex justice co-created with Dr. Mel Michelle Lewis (they>she), an Associate Professor of Gender/Sexuality in Studio and Humanistic Studies at Maryland Institute College of Art: Intersex justice is a decolonizing framework that affirms the labor of intersex people of color fighting for change across social justice movements. By definition, intersex justice affirms bodily integrity and bodily autonomy as the practice of liberation. Intersex justice is intrinsically tied to justice movements that center race, ability, gender identity & expression, migrant status, and access to sexual & reproductive healthcare. Intersex justice articulates a commitment to these movements as central to its intersectional analysis and praxis. Intersex justice acknowledges the trauma caused by medically unnecessary and nonconsensual cosmetic genital surgeries and addresses the culture of shame, silence and stigma surrounding intersex variations that perpetuate further harm.

The marginalization of intersex people is rooted in colonization and white supremacy. Colonization created a taxonomy of human bodies that privileged typical white male and female bodies, prescribing a gender binary that would ultimately harm atypical black and indigenous bodies. As part of a liberation movement, intersex activists challenge not only the medical establishment, which is often the initial site of harm, but also governments, institutions, legal structures, and sociocultural norms that exclude intersex people. Intersex people should be allowed complete and uninhibited access to obtaining identity documents, exercising their birth and adoption rights, receiving unbiased healthcare, and securing education and employment opportunities that are free from harm and harassment. This framework serves a radical vision where intersex children are protected and survivors of genital cutting are cared for and respected. We owe that to intersex people and we owe that to ourselves.

The implementation of an intersex justice framework should include the following components: 1. Informed consent 2. Reparations 3. Legal protections 4. Accountability 5. Language 6. Children's rights 7. Patient-centered healthcare."

-Intersex Justice Project, founded by Sean Saifa Wall, Lynnell Stephani Long, and Pidgeon Pagonis.

[elodieunderglass]

CONSTANT CONCUSSIONS ARE. NOT GOOD. D:

(In reference to this educational post about Killie the Jockey and the common injuries experienced by racing jockeys.)

Concussions really aren’t good. They kill people. And racing pressures jockeys to normalise them, and punishes them for failing to.

In this 2024 article, a journalist for The Irish Field writing about racing jockeys and concussions begins with an opener that should have people biting their desks in half:

Reported rates of concussion or traumatic brain injuries [in racing jockeys] are higher than those in boxing, rugby and American football.

Before going on to note that jockeys try not to report concussions, with a sporting culture of lying like bastards not showing weakness:

It’s generally accepted that jockeys are extremely resilient and stoic when it comes to injuries, which ironically puts them in more danger and poses serious challenges to their doctors and raceday medical staff trying to help with concussion management. (…)

a study in 2020 showed that 32.4% of Irish amateur jockeys and 19.6% of professional jockeys participating in the study suspected that they had sustained a concussion that was never medically diagnosed, not through a lack of effort on the doctor’s side, but because the jockeys didn’t report their symptoms. (…)

One in two jockeys even said that they would continue to ride out if they had a suspected concussion. Their main reasons being that they didn’t consider a concussion serious (87.5%), not wanting to let anyone down (77.8%) and many even considered it a sign of weakness (74.1%).

Jockeys are almost all freelancers, and contracted ones who are injured on the job don’t receive loyalty from their owners. Winning jockeys are offered the best mounts, but everyone else has to scrounge and scrape for any work available - including taking on dangerous mounts, which creates a downward spiral. Desperate, hungry, anxious, tired, and broke jockeys taking on bad/losing/dangerous/injured mounts are more likely to perform badly, hurt themselves, lose more often, have accidents to themselves and the animals, continue to spiral… and conceal injury.

Jockeys don’t have worker’s unions, and if unable to work (temporarily or permanently) are sometimes supported by Injured Jockeys Funds - small independent charities that they pay into when they can. There’s perceived stigma about leaning on your people too much, though, and they wouldn’t turn to these funds for something “small” like a concussion that only requires a little time off, when the funds also have to stretch to jockeys who are permanently paralysed.

Jockeys are responsible for buying their own safety gear (which comes out of their body weight allowance) meaning that, as the article reports, they often ride in unsuitable equipment. (Remembering that their safety equipment is a lightweight helmet and a lightly padded vest.) the Irish Injured Jockeys Fund offers €100 to buy back broken helmets, but a good helmet costs about €150 and it doesn’t seem to be enough incentive to stop jockeys riding in broken helmets.

Addressing the worry about losing work might help.

There are no binding contracts in racing that guarantee a jockey will still have a career, once he or she has recovered from an injury…

I believe that if jockeys had some security that they wouldn’t effectively be punished by owners and trainers for reporting a head injury then the jockeys would be more comfortable with being honest in reporting symptoms.

As for Killie - he is an idiot. But he has someone on his side!

Even if his boyfriend is only able to say: this is where you stop.