Negatively categorizing others is a habit of mankind. Very few of us can point a finger at others for labelling people unflatteringly without pointing one back at ourselves.
Stigmatized most are those in need; those who must rely publicly on charity and lose their status. If enough of us hold the same negative label about any other group long enough, we can sustain an uncomfortable and debilitating stigma.
And when we wrap that negative imagery around someone or a group, firstly, we have recognized a difference between them and ourselves. Secondly, we have determined the others ought to be kept in a derogatory light. And, thirdly, we go on to nurture the “them” and “us” system.
There are many people among us – whose circumstances are not of their own making – who live a life daily of suffered stigma. And that they must be assisted by agencies, whose names stray far from euphemism, does not do well for their self-image. Not in a state where it is being touted that we are more than an economy; that we are a society as well.
Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett’s initiative is therefore understandable.
He will “shortly be inviting the Cabinet to agree to a change in the nomenclature of the Welfare Department . . . and the National Assistance Board (NAB)”.
Mr Blackett told participants of a seminar on Housing The Elderly on Friday at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in Dayrells Road, Christ Church, that he proposed to have the Welfare Department renamed the “Department of Social Services” and the NAB, the “Commission of Elder Affairs”.
“The changes to the names of these two important entities,” the minister explained, “should better reflect their work in this modern era, and also help to remove the stigmatization associated with the current names.”
We sincerely hope so; for there is need for a shift in attitude within and without.
Many a complaint has been made over the years about the conduct of Government agents towards those seeking the charity of the state. Answers by some officers to questions have been sharply short; requests of some underprivileged unreasonably delayed or denied altogether.
Just maybe the mental picture of a Department Of Social Services will eclipse the stigmatic imagery of welfare and imbue in all its officers a new direction of thought and a refreshed practice of service – not to humbugs, but deserving folk.
The proposed image of Commission of Elder Affairs should equally strike a fresh note in the care and respect due our old. The attention they get must not be shaped in handouts, but carved in care, reflective of the love they gave us all.
Mr Blackett’s dream must come true. Anything less will only be in name.
