stigma

 

To me, stigma is the negative perception of a certain topic/behavior/group of people.

Stigma has affected me in many different ways, big and small. The stigma towards migraines is

something I dealt with ever since I was little. I don’t think most people know that migraines are

not just a “really bad headache” and can actually be a debilitating lifelong neurological disease. I

was born with chronic migraines as a child but it took 12 years for me to be finally diagnosed

due to the fact that my family did not take me seriously and thought that I brought these

migraines upon myself. I still struggle with the stigma today. For example, if I have to cancel

plans due to a migraine, a family member might blame me for getting a migraine by using the

computer too much instead of empathizing with me. Another stigma that has affected my life is

the stigma towards liking K-pop. When I first started listening to K-pop and learning Korean back

in 2011, I got a lot of judgment for that but at the time, I just ignored everyone and did my own

thing. Now it is 2020 and I sometimes still get made fun of liking Korean culture. Honestly these

days, I usually try to hide my interest in Korean music and language because the stigma still

persists.