How Kids With Asthma Are Stigmatized By The Media
Larger image at http://www.flickr.com/photos/43157614@N06/4071755333 Asthma in America (Photo credit: GDS Infographics)
My consciousness has been raised…
If anyone has a related story/personal account to share, please do!
From the 14 June 2012 Medical News Today article
This summer, superheroes like Spider-Man, Batman, and even Snow White will showcase their staggering strengths on the big screen.
A Rutgers-Camden professor says that children with asthma are the real-life superheroes, facing down breathlessness and operating life-saving devices whenever and wherever asthma attacks strike.
Cindy Dell Clark, who teaches anthropology at Rutgers-Camden, recently published research that analyzes Hollywood’s portrayal of children with asthma in the journal Medical Anthropology Quarterly.
According to Clark, Hollywood often depicts children with asthma, the leading chronic illness of U.S. children, as vulnerable characters, not heroes. Showcasing asthma as a form of weakness adds drama to action films and levity to comedies. The habit of stereotyping asthma in movies, her research suggests, should be rethought by Hollywood and its writers.
Clark says the media, as well as other social contexts like school and peers, matter significantly for how the 9% of Americans under 18 with asthma view their illness and commit to its treatment…
Related articles
- Children with asthma marginalized in movies, says Rutgers-Camden researcher (eurekalert.org)
- Exercise-induced Asthma (michaelviggars.com)
- The Anatomy of an Asthma Attack (everydayhealth.com)
- Web-based tool helps parents improve on kids’ asthma treatment (medicalxpress.com)
- Asthma Treatment/Inhalers (newmexicosinusinstitute.com)
- Stress: A Serious Asthma Trigger (everydayhealth.com)
- Following an Asthma Action Plan (everydayhealth.com)
- What is Asthma? (newmexicosinusinstitute.com)
- The Top 10 Worst Cities in the U.S. for Asthma in 2012 (treehugger.com)
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This blog presents a sampling of health and medical news and resources for all. Selected articles and resources will hopefully be of general interest but will also encourage further reading through posted references and other links. Currently I am focusing on public health, basic and applied research and very broadly on disease and healthy lifestyle topics.
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