By E.L Micah
Firstly, I would like to invite you on a journey with me today to trade in our former lenses and attempt to try out some new ones that look to acknowledge and explore the stigma of homelessness.
When you hear or read the word “homeless”, I am fairly certain most of us have an image, word or thought that comes to mind that is associated with a negative connotation. Often, they are linked to terms that present the notion of “othering” those that we deem as “homeless” in society. This manifests itself through the social constructs evident in our language, attitudes, and behaviors. Furthermore, this can stem from what we have been told from those around us, that grounds in us the same stigmatising labels and actions. These lenses often come without the root understanding of the world in which the “others” live and walk daily.
Homelessness in reality is rooted in underlying factors that differ for all. Often the anchors of these factors stem from colonization, historical trauma, mental health issues, adversity, abuse (physical, substance, emotional), economic struggles, social exclusion, and stigma. For example, a source stipulated that “homelessness for Māori is anchored in the enduring effects of colonisation and historical trauma.” (Lawson-Te Aho, et al., 2019) The argument being that the “ongoing effects” of these events are responsible for homelessness for most indigenous peoples. This argument allowed me to reflect on my own lack of knowledge and ignorance. This opened me up to acknowledging and respecting those, whom I deemed as “others”. For the journey, they have walked was not a choice, rather a reality of historical factors and present ones in the stigma we may wear as lenses when we look to those who are homeless.
Throughout, the few years of studying social work the lenses of holism have allowed me to view people’s lives as a network of different factors. It introduced the notion that there are many networks upon those that stigma is attached to. When we as society reinforce these stigmatising labels, glances, thoughts, and lenses we continue to see that there are multiple factors present not just what is seen on the surface.
The challenge behind the stigma is to take steps of empathy outside oneself and realise that homelessness does not choose whom it befalls and can happen to anyone and everyone. I can attest to this truth that I discovered when serving those who were homeless. The life stories, the why behind their current position in their journey, some educated and most willing to regain the sense of humanness that stigma removed from them. The undignified and inferiority complex of society stigma filtered out once I took those steps towards empathy and listened.
I know there are many factors and facets to view the deeper roots of stigma of homelessness. However, I hope this journey with me today has disintegrated some of the stigma that allowed you to view the human, the father, the mother, the daughter, the son, the grandparent, the friend and neighbor. Lastly, let us continue to disintegrate the stigma of homelessness and take steps of empathy to look deeper to the root.
References:
Lawson-Te Aho, K., Fariu-Ariki, P., Ombler, J., Aspinall, C., Howden-Chapman, P., & Pierse, N. (2019). A principles framework for taking action on Māori/Indigenous Homelessness in Aotearoa/New Zealand. SSM-Population Health, 8, 100450. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100450
Kamelhar, B. (2019). The stigma associated with homelessness and how it leads to ineffective solutions both in and out of the courtroom. Read here.
Pitman, T. (2009). To end homelessness, start with stigma. Read here
socialworkdiscourse2020 