October is Selective Mutism awareness month. I am very excited to continue to spread awareness for SM this month, but how does someone raise awareness?
Many people argue that an awareness month, week, or day, for a cause does nothing. After all, the US has over 200 officially recognized awareness days. (you can see all of them here), and there are many more unofficially recognized ones that are sponsored by organizations including Selective Mutism awareness month. "Raising awareness" can seem pointless to some people, and there isn't a ton of evidence into what good these awareness months do. With social media, awareness days are on the rise. Yeah sure, social media can reach many people, but does this kind of activism actually work? It is a great way to educate people, but it's not a great tool for real social change. People often substitute knowledge for activism. Sharing a post or constantly posting an awareness ribbon will never be the same as advocating. Sure, it will make us feel like we've done something meaningful for the world, but really we haven't done much. What's the point of raising awareness then? Why would I even be writing this for the internet if social media was pointless? I am encouraging people to do something about the lack of understanding of Selective Mutism. I'll still let you share about Selective Mutism on social media and join those SM Facebook groups. Let's do something else for Selective Mutism. Let your activism go beyond the month of October. What can you do to really advocate for Selective Mutism this month?
Sources: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/04/what-good-is-raising-awareness/391002/ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/10/04/small-change-malcolm-gladwell http://barnraisersllc.com/2017/12/awareness-months-work-best-practices/
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