In a way, everything has a brand. Products have brands. Companies have brands. Even people have brands, especially these days with the prevalence of social media. Brands—which affect how we see, distinguish, and select what we will pay attention to—are deeply powerful. And their impact can run the gamut.
Brands can happen inadvertently. With people, what used to be called “reputation” can also be thought of as a “brand.” Such brands can be connected to a job, a pastime, or a group that that person is associated with. Obviously, for any one individual, the branding they inherit from a group may be either deserved or undeserved. A few bad apples can spoil the bunch. What’s more, those bad apples may have profound long-term impacts that detrimentally affect the entire group. And once negative branding attaches to a group, changing that branding perception can be extremely difficult as the below infographic demonstrates.
Let’s look at the current branding of the disability recipient. Let’s say for example you are someone who has spent his life working hard in the construction industry. You now have severe medical issues that prevent you from doing your past work. Your friend or spouse tells you that perhaps you should file for disability. If any part of you rebels at that notion, because you don’t want to be associated with the disabled because you have encountered too many people who were “working the system” – that is negative branding. It is an unfortunate reality for some that there is a negative perception of those on disability (the group) because of a variety of factors. The truly disabled individual suffers injustice at the hands of this negative branding. On top of their disabilities, they are now forced to shoulder this new stigma. Are they disabled? Or are they faking? They know they cannot work, but do their families, friends, and others assume the worst?
Here at PounceLaw we screen our clients very carefully. We want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Every day we are doing our part to make sure that the truly disabled get the help they need.