On Tuesday April 11, I will be speaking at the Southwest MN Human Rights Conference addressing stereotyping, discrimination and other societal challenges. The conference is being hosted by Southwestern Center for Independent Living in conjunction with the Southwest Minnesota State University and will be held in Marshall, MN. My topic will be “The long term psychological impact of bias-based bullying”, which is based on my first book.
My presentation emphasizes the fact that ability to accept differences in people and to promote unbiased positive interactions are key ingredients for overall success for all of us as a society. If on a regular basis a child is concerned about having to deal with negative issues/events/incidents because he or she is perceived to be racially ‘different’, it is simply not possible for the child to focus on important academic and social aspects of school life. If a child has to deal with such an unsafe environment on a continuous basis, the longer term negative impact can be devastating.
When a person is bullied because of how he/she looks or how his/her name is spelled or pronounced, it can create major negative long-lasting impact for years to come. The purpose of this presentation is to describe a personal story that demonstrates how bullying based on cultural/racial differences can cause severe mental health issues for the victim, with a long-lasting impact that typically derails the victim from his/her normal developmental track. This is an extremely serious issue that often goes unnoticed and undetected during school years. Specifically, the presentation discusses the details on how prolonged bullying (based on someone being perceived as different) can trigger devastating long-lasting mental illness and how that impact can torment a victim long after the school years are over.