In a recent blog published by the Huffington Post, Carey Fuller, a homeless mother, talks about what it's like to tell someone you're homeless. One incredible insight she has is how we often talk of homelessness as though it's a trait a person has rather than an experience one endures, and how this is something which adds to the stigma and the apathy associated with it. Think of the stereotypes attached to homelessness - drug addiction, prostitution, alcohol abuse, criminality and so on. How is a person affected by homelessness supposed to break through all that? How do you approach a potential employer without a permanent address? Earlier today, we brought Landon to speak with a group of students in a Berkeley elementary school. While many of the questions were quite good, there was one which stuck out. One student asked: "Why is it that people don't want to look a homeless person in the eye?"
That is the real stigma many homeless individuals must face - a society which is blind and deaf to their every utterance and need.