PORTRAYING STIGMATIZED CONDITIONS - DISABLING IMAGES IN PUBLIC-HEALTH

In promoting people's good health, health communication may help reduc e the incidence of disabling injuries. Yet little is known about the b roader question of how health communication efforts contribute to the production of stigma and the negative implications for effective and e thical health promotion. In the United States alone, as many as 49 mil lion people have a physical or a cognitive disability. This article co nsiders the paradox that health communication approaches to prevent in jury-with the implicit message ''Don't let this happen to you!''-may p ortray people with disabilities in a stigmatizing way. The psychosocia l consequences of stigma heighten the stakes for people with disabilit ies who strive for fair treatment in employment, social interaction, a nd policy outcomes. In an era in which health communication is hailed as a remedy for an unprecedented array of health conditions, this arti cle poses a startling point for critically examining how health commun ication may better prevent the many ailments of humankind.