The National Sigma Clearinghouse

The National Sigma Clearinghouse

Pioneer clearinghouse has long history of effective stigma-busting

The National Stigma Clearinghouse (NSC) is a nonprofit organization that tracks and protests unfair media images of mental illness and promotes accurate portrayals of mental illnesses and the correct use of psychiatric terms. It also provides assistance to others in responding to media images (e.g., providing addresses and phone numbers of media professionals and organizations, materials about mental illnesses with which to educate people in the media, and samples of letters).

Situation: NSC founders Jean Arnold, a community activist and family member, and Nora Weinerth, a communications consultant, saw misrepresentation of mental illnesses as a tidal wave overwhelming token positive images of people with mental illnesses.

Solution: From 1990 until the fall of 1996, the all-volunteer National Stigma Clearinghouse issued 64 monthly reports containing 640 items submitted by media watchers. The reports also included articles, letters, and other items of interest to the national stigma busters' network. The media's responses were outstanding, as shown in itemized recaps published by the Clearinghouse.

The NSC's focus on inaccurate images in news, advertising, and the entertainment media has broadened since 1990 to include a clippings and articles file on prejudice and related topics. It furnishes this information on request to mental health consumers, mental health organizations, educators, students, lawyers, researchers, families, and professionals in the mental health field.

In 1999, the NSC created its Anti-stigma Home Page to provide links to anti-stigma/anti-discrimination work done by a growing number of organizations in the United States and throughout the world.

Results: The NSC's first gratifying success came in 1990, when Planters LifeSavers Co. switched the persona of Mr. Peanut, its trademark image, from "finger-twirling nutty" to "jaunty." At the end of its first three years, the NSC network had chalked up 184 positive results, consisting of published articles, letters to the editor, and positive written responses from advertisers and media sources.

Even more significantly, the NSC succeeded in focusing media attention on the issue of stigma when such attention was rare, and it has been profiled or been mentioned in such national publications as Time and The New York Times.

Contact: National Stigma Clearinghouse, 245 Eighth Avenue, #213, New York, NY 10011, Phone: 212-255-4411; E-mail: stigmanet@webtv.net;

Web site: http://community-2.webtv.net/stigmanet

Last Updated on 01/03/05 webmaster@namiscc.org

Opinions expressed in this web site do not necessarily reflect the views of NAMI Santa Cruz County, NAMI California or any affiliated organizations. We attempt to present a balanced perspective on issues by presenting multiple viewpoints.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted (©) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.