Portraying stigmatized conditions: disabling images in public health

In promoting people's good health, health communication may help reduce the incidence of disabling injuries. Yet little is known about the broader question of how health communication efforts contribute to the production of stigma and the negative implications for effective and ethical health promotion. In the United States alone, as many as 49 million people have a physical or a cognitive disability. This article considers the paradox that health communication approaches to prevent injury--with the implicit message "Don't let this happen to you!"--may portray people with disabilities in a stigmatizing way. The psychosocial consequences of stigma heighten the stakes for people with disabilities who strive for fair treatment in employment, social interaction, and policy outcomes. In an era in which health communication is hailed as a remedy for an unprecedented array of health conditions, this article poses a starting point for critically examining how health communication may better prevent the many ailments of humankind.