1Princess Diana's Impact
Princess Diana, on live TV, shook the hand of an AIDS patient without wearing gloves, challenging the belief that AIDS could be passed via contact. The act was seen as a huge moment for those suffering from the disease, as it helped remove the stigma around the disease.
2. In Japan, the term for schizophrenia was changed from "mind-split disease" to "integration disorder" in 2002 to reduce the stigma associated with it. Within three years, the percentage of people who were informed of the diagnosis of schizophrenia rose from 37 to 70%. A similar change was made in South Korea.
3. Chinese factories sometimes label their goods "Made in PRC" (People's Republic of China) instead of "Made in China" due to the stigma attached to the name, which is associated with low-quality products.
4. Albrecht II of Bayreuth, a famously cruel ruler, once picked a random man from a crowd and ordered him to perform an execution. Due to the severe social stigma attached to executioners, the man couldn't return to his job as a woodcutter. He was condemned to carry on as an executioner, and so was his son.
5. In North Korea, there is little stigma attached to using meth. "If you go to somebody's house, it is a polite way to greet somebody by offering them a sniff," said one North Korean.
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6HIV Muppet in Nigeria
The Nigerian version of Sesame Street, Sesame Square, features an HIV-positive muppet to help remove the stigma of being HIV-positive.
7. President Grover Cleveland had cancer and underwent surgery in secret on his yacht to avoid the stigma of cancer at the time.
8. In South Korea, it is such a stigma to adopt children that women are recommended to wear a maternity pillow to appear pregnant until the adoption is finalized.
9. Isaac Asimov contracted HIV from a transfusion during triple bypass surgery in 1983, but the social stigma surrounding the disease at the time led his family to keep it quiet for over ten years after his death in 1992.
10. Actress Salma Hayek breastfed another woman's baby during a goodwill trip to Sierra Leone in an attempt to diminish the stigma placed on women for breastfeeding.
