Mental Health and Social Stigma

This assignment analyzes the case of Landon Webb, a young man with cognitive disabilities discharged from a rehabilitation center without proper supervision. The paper delves into the social stigma surrounding mental illness, highlighting how this discharge could exacerbate existing prejudices and endanger both Landon and the community. It discusses the ethical implications of such decisions, advocating for more compassionate language and alternative solutions to address the needs of individuals with mental health challenges.

Running head: DISABILITIES STUDIES
DISABILITIES STUDIES
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

1DISABILITIES STUDIES
Summary of the article
The following media release focuses on the issue of discharging a mentally ill patient
with just a one week’s notice rendering the patient totally homeless. Landon Webb, who was
suffering from mental disabilities was only 24 years old and had been under the care of the Kings
regional rehabilitation centre due to some cognitive dysfunctions and learning disabilities. The
paper sheds light on the inhuman activity of the staffs of the rehabilitation centre who had
admitted that they no longer care for him. This paper discusses about the various ways how a
mental patient is portrayed in the society. According to, an advocate for people with mental
disabilities, release of Landon Webb can be risk for the others living in the community.
According to the verdict of his parents, Landon Webb is unable to take any decision on his own
and hence have a greater risk of bringing himself and others in the community at risk. Landon
had also become victim to drugs and had developed unpleasant characteristics. As per the report,
the Kings rehabilitation allowed the victim, out in the community without any supervision. It is
evident from the news that Landon has no insight of his own and hence is vulnerable to all the
predators of the society. Landon’s mother thinks that like any other person, Landon has got the
right to receive a dignified care.
The words that have been used in this article to signify further devaluation of the person
with disabilities are – ‘vulnerable’, ‘significantly low functioning’, ‘unsavoury characters’.
Reflection
Reports suggest that mental health is still stigmatized in the society and very few people
are sympathetic to the people with mental health. The following newsletter are providing with
the idea that Landon is out in the society without any supervision. As per the advocate’s opinion

2DISABILITIES STUDIES
Landon has become addicted to drugs and can inflict harm on anybody. Thus, this news can
exacerbate the stigma of mental illness in the society (Corrigan et al., 2014). People would not
extend their hands of help in fear, that he might harm them. From the news itself it can be
assumed that most of the society finds this population of human to be vulnerable and pose risk to
the society (Dalky, 2012;Pescosolido, 2013). This kind of a thought would aggravate the sense of
resentment and fear among the common people regarding the people with mental health issues
(Naslund et al., 2016). A rehabilitation centre should be able to serve a patient irrespective of the
socio-economic status, but in this case the mental rehabilitation centered not only failed to
provide appropriate care and supervision to the patient but also discharged him without prior
notifications, which reflects gross negligence and misconduct in part of such an organization.
Recommendation
Keeping an eye on the article, it should be noted that, social stigma and discrimination
related to cognitive disability can make situations worse for the concerned person and make it
harder for them to recover (Dalky, 2012). According to me, the King’s rehabilitation centre
would have opted for some other alternatives, if there were shortage of beds or could have given
ample time to the family to make situations at home suitable for shifting a patient like Webb
Landon. Furthermore, it is recommended to use more sympathetic words to address the mental
health patients (Naslund et al., 2016).

3DISABILITIES STUDIES
References
Corrigan, P. W., Mittal, D., Reaves, C. M., Haynes, T. F., Han, X., Morris, S., & Sullivan, G.
(2014). Mental health stigma and primary health care decisions. Psychiatry
research, 218(1), 35-38.
Dalky, H. F. (2012). Mental illness stigma reduction interventions: Review of intervention
trials. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 34(4), 520-547.
Naslund, J. A., Aschbrenner, K. A., Marsch, L. A., & Bartels, S. J. (2016). The future of mental
health care: peer-to-peer support and social media. Epidemiology and psychiatric
sciences, 25(2), 113-122.
Pescosolido, B. A. (2013). The public stigma of mental illness: What do we think; what do we
know; what can we prove?. Journal of Health and Social behavior, 54(1), 1-21.