The thesis represented here was for my Honors undergraduate thesis project, which explored the social stigma of disability and its representational differences between congenital and acquired disability within the user comments in an online forum of discussion. Existing literature on Critical Disability Studies and Rehabilitative Psychology has noted the nature of disability stigma and lack of accurate representation in social settings as well as the ramifications that follow. (Mis)representations of disability can result in bias, inaccessibility, and other social ramifications such as microaggressions because of the long history of oppression and stigmatization that disabled individuals have experienced (Keller & Galgay, 2010). Data was collected from two online forums addressing disability stigma and analyzed using both deductive coding and inductive emergent analysis of recurrent themes, experiences, or ideas that were expressed in user comments. Analysis of user comments helped address the goal of this research which aimed to explore stigma, identity, and disability within a representational context. This thesis, then, wanted to better understand disability stigma by analyzing the representational differences (if any) of congenital and acquired disabled user’s comments.

Our thesis revolved around the Maryvale community and was centered by a Photovoice project that was a Youth Participatory Action Research method. Being a project led by the youth we continued their stories and expanded off of the topics that we discussed in our photovoice meetings. In our thesis podcast we discussed the expectation and reality of moving to a new country, the colorism our community as well as other communities face, and the health disparities that are present within underrepresented communities. We were able to expand on these topics and tie it back to the conversations we had with each other four years prior to doing our podcast and how little or how much these topics have changed and evolved.

Color, shape, and motion perception are easily identifiable in the center of the visual field. However, less is understood about the recognition of change in color and shape when motion occurs in the parafoveal region of the eye. This study seeks to gain more knowledge on this subject and help guide future research. Major goals of this research included to find if there is significant difference between change and no change of shape and color in the peripheral vision and to seek a better understanding of this perception. A total of 47 undergraduate psychology students participated. Subjects were shown videos of a shape moving across the screen that either had a shape change, color change, or no change occur. Participants were then asked to report if they saw a change or no change. We found that students noticed that change at a rate significantly greater than average. These findings suggest perception of shape and color change may be present in the parafoveal region of the visual field.

While people are scrolling through their various social media apps, they encounter messaging that does not necessarily promote good mental health. Rather, images, posts, and videos often make a mockery of those with mental health problems, leaving the viewers to believe that mental health problems often lead to dangerousness, criminality, and unpredictability. It then is essential that social media messaging about mental health, and its stigmas are analyzed and solutions to promote better mental health messages on these platforms are implemented because they affect everyone. Anti-stigma campaigns may be useful in bringing awareness to mental health and its stigmas, so two anti-stigma campaigns, Stamp Out Stigma and StigmaFree, were analyzed in this study. To understand the types of messages people are receiving about mental health and its stigmas from anti-stigma organizations on social media platforms, three research questions were developed. A thematic analysis was conducted that included 205 posts from 2021 that came from the campaigns' Facebook and Twitter accounts. Several themes emerged for each research question as well as multiple limitations for this study. Ultimately, social media messaging about mental health and its stigmas must continue to be researched.