Deflecting Stigma Part 2

We left off in the last blog wondering what you do when someone confronts you with a stigmatized attitude. There are an infinite number of ways to deflect stigma. The focus of this blog is utilizing the strategy that I find to typically be most effective for ensuring your own emotional coping with the situation as well as getting the point across to the other person that they are being inappropriate without creating tension. So what is this incredibly effective tool… humor! Humor can be used to diffuse a negative situation in many ways. The only caution with this is to avoid what could be perceived as a personal attack through humor directed at the other person or regarding a stereotype. An effective way to use humor is to direct the humor toward yourself or the actual situation. An example of this is the popular slogan, “cancer sucks” (also the name of an organization). Another amazing example of using humor to deflect stigma directly related to the previous blog is the following quote from one of the most amazing people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, let alone working with. In response to the question of “you have cancer…do you smoke?”, he would reply, “no, but I have sex”. This quip was successful in making anyone and everyone laugh and additionally informed the person delivering the stigmatized question that what they asked was not only irrelevant, but inappropriate, without causing hurt feelings. Do you have any examples of how you have previously used humor to deflect stigma or can you think of an instance when you would? Sometimes just thinking about it can bring a smile to your face and after all, laughter is the best medicine, so please practice often!