Digital Commons Network^™

Disrupting Epistemic Injustice: Implications For Lived-Experience Accounts Of Mental Illness In Social Work Education, Jessica D. Hawkins

University Honors Theses

Mental illness stigma interventions have not been shown to be effective on a large scale. It has been suggested by stigma researchers that being in close proximity to people with mental illness, or listening to their lived-experience narratives, could reduce mental illness stigma. This study proposes an inclusion of a Mad studies framework in social work education -- a framework that highlights the importance of lived-experience accounts of mental illness in knowledge production about this population. Inclusion of lived-experience narratives could reduce stigma and discrimination of people with mental illness among social workers and other service providers.

Addressing The Body Mass Index Using A Teaching Math For Social Justice Lens, Riley J. Wolfe

University Honors Theses

Teaching Math for Social Justice (TMSJ) lessons are designed to explain math in social justice contexts. TMSJ leads to better engagement with math content by providing relevant contexts. Because the field is so new, there are math topics not yet covered and areas of social justice that also have gone unaddressed by TMSJ. One of these topics is the problem of weight discrimination. This paper will explain how Body Mass Index (BMI) can be used as a jumping off point to introduce the issue of weight discrimination. Then, a detailed lesson plan is provided which connects the historical origin of …

Perceptions And Experiences Of Indian And Indian-American Multilingual And Multicultural Adults Who Stutter, Bhavani Ganesh

University Honors Theses

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the intersectional identities of Indian and Indian American people who stutter and explore how their multicultural and/or multilingual identities contribute to their self-perceptions and experiences of disability.

Method: Five Indian or Indian American adults (all male) who stuttered participated in a semi-structured interview via Zoom. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a phenomenological qualitative research methods process. The qualitative research process included in-vivo coding, identification of categories, and emergence of themes.

Results: Participants reported both unique and shared experiences related to their stuttering and their multicultural and multilingual backgrounds. Four major themes …

Reducing Stigma Associated With Growing Up Poor: How To Create A More Equitable Future For Working Class Adolescents, Jessica Goodpaster

University Honors Theses

I examine how stigma associated with socioeconomic status (SES), or social class, has the potential to negatively impact individuals during adolescence. Specifically, I focus on the impact of class stigma, and the institutional barriers faced by adolescents as they prepare for adulthood. These barriers and the stress felt due to both stigmatization, and environmental stimuli specifically pertaining to low-income neighborhoods/environments, can hinder or alter the development of the four major domains of development: physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. Stigmatization has resulted in physically and socially isolating low-income communities from middle- or high-income communities, hindering social mobility for L-SES adolescents. …

Virtual Community For Fat People In Outdoor Recreation, Amber C. Stephens

University Honors Theses

This paper examines online virtual communities for fat people within outdoor recreation, and how they provide connection, complex agency, and representation for fat bodies in spaces where their bodies are seen as taboo. Furthermore, it will explore the way fat bodies have been historically viewed, the lack of representation of fat bodies in the outdoors and related communities, and the gate-keeping that occurs to those who do not conform to traditional stereotypes of an outdoorsy person. Close examination of two different Instagram accounts that highlight the fat body in the outdoors will reveal three main representational elements that are an …

Reducing Stigma Associated With Schizophrenia, James Reling

University Honors Theses

I examine stigma associated with schizophrenia and how psychiatric diagnosis, mental health professionals, the criminal justice system, and society ostracize and contribute to the suffering of approximately three million Americans. I doubt schizophrenia’s conceptualization as a progressively deteriorating biological disease and present the social conditions that accumulate stress for the individual and lead to psychotic episodes. I argue that schizophrenia cannot be understood as a “thing," but as a complex system of numerous variables contributing to a system of disorder resulting from prejudiced attitudes, discriminatory social-structural conditions, and unjust treatment of human beings needing extra resources to thrive. Ultimately, I …

Fitness And Fatness: The Conflation Of Weight With Health, And The Consequences Of Fat-Shaming, Kristin Spurkland

University Honors Theses

Obesity is widely accepted as one of the major health crises facing the United States, and increasingly, the world. Labeled a disease by the American Medical Association, and frequently characterized as an epidemic, obesity is the target of high profile national health interventions, media campaigns, and a multi-billion dollar self-help industry. The message produced by public health agencies is that obesity is a killer, and that reducing weight is a beneficial and achievable goal generating many positive health outcomes. This paper presents two primary arguments that counter the prevailing attitudes towards obesity: that as a stand-alone measure, Body Mass Index …