Word: stigmas
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Superstition's Stigma. Although history's epileptics feature such notables as Mohammed and Napoleon Bonaparte, the vast majority have been stigmatized by superstitions that attribute the disease to demons. The actual cause is unknown, but seems to be related to a disturbance in the cerebral cortex. A patch of the cerebral cortex-the brain's command post -gets irritated, and sends out waves of involuntary impulses. On the receiving end, the body muscles respond with spasmodic convulsions-the epileptic seizure. In the average victim, the seizure passes within five minutes. Drugs, among them Dilantin and phenobarbital, eliminate...
...epileptics, life is still full of persecutions. Owing to a belief that epilepsy is inherited-actually, so far as is known, only a "predisposition" can be inherited-in ten states epileptics cannot marry, in 18 they can be sterilized. Federal law bars epileptic immigrants. Nowhere is the stigma felt more painfully than in job hunting, despite progress in recent years. The civil service, for example, will hire epileptics "provided that their seizures are adequately controlled and their placements selective." In a recent survey, 73% of Arizona manufacturing firms said they would not hire epileptics. Reason: fear that they are accident...
Another common criticism was that in its attempt to remove the stigma of the word "non-Honors", the proposed system would take away much of the recognition deserved by Honors-calibre work...
Coupled with his high regard for village life, however, goes a fear of the stigma of provincialism. In answer to the question of what village he came from, Essien-Udom said, "You know, we're very sensitive about not being 'universal men'; it's bad enough to say you're from Eastern Nigeria, but to say what village is really too much...
...subcontinent, the man with a Western wife is in a kind of caste by himself. Invariably, the husband has worked or studied abroad; generally he comes from a good family and has a well-paying professional or government job. But last week his caste mark looked more like the stigma of untouchability, as the press of both India and Pakistan simmered over with caterwauls against that "foreign invader," the imported bride...