RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITY PARTNERS
Impact of Person-First Language for Community Partners. Stigma blocks access to employment, housing, assistance, and quality healthcare. So it is critical that community partners that may help provide these and other resources use appropriate language. One in four Americans lives with a mental health or substance use disorder. The stigma experienced by individuals living with mental health, substance use disorder, opioid use disorder, or HIV is one of the biggest barriers to treatment and recovery. When we stigmatize, we view others through a lens of false assumptions, focus solely on a diagnosis, and reduce a person to a label.
Stigmatizing words can discourage, isolate, shame, and embarrass someone with a chronic condition. Entire groups of people become devalued and excluded from society when disorder-labeling language is used to describe socially unacceptable health conditions. People may decide not to seek the critical—often life-saving—services offered by the community because of the stigma they encounter from these providers.
Stigmatizing words can discourage, isolate, shame, and embarrass someone with a chronic condition. Entire groups of people become devalued and excluded from society when disorder-labeling language is used to describe socially unacceptable health conditions. People may decide not to seek the critical—often life-saving—services offered by the community because of the stigma they encounter from these providers.
