One thing I keep re-learning as I get older is that stereotypes and assumptions are never good - they block you from seeing what's really there, or understand what's really going on. It's like you get some sort of mental block from reality.
People form stereotypes, or make assumptions, all the time - and it happens everywhere. I see it when I'm driving, and the driver behind assumes I have the same intentions as him/her (discovered this on a frightening level recently, when I had to drive on a spare tyre with a maximum speed limit of 40mph for safety reasons - I even had lorries swerving out at the last minute, when there was nothing else on the road and they could clearly see me from a mile off, with them frantically flashing their lights as if to say "move out the way" and I'm thinking "I can't go any faster, you're gaining on me like there's no tomorrow and you want me to move?!?"). I also see it at work, when a colleague reacts in some weird way if a patient discloses they have schizophrenia (they become so wary, as if they've just been put in a cage with a hungry lion) because they assume, no thanks to the media, that all schizophrenics are knife-wielding lunatics.
People form stereotypes, or make assumptions, all the time - and it happens everywhere. I see it when I'm driving, and the driver behind assumes I have the same intentions as him/her (discovered this on a frightening level recently, when I had to drive on a spare tyre with a maximum speed limit of 40mph for safety reasons - I even had lorries swerving out at the last minute, when there was nothing else on the road and they could clearly see me from a mile off, with them frantically flashing their lights as if to say "move out the way" and I'm thinking "I can't go any faster, you're gaining on me like there's no tomorrow and you want me to move?!?"). I also see it at work, when a colleague reacts in some weird way if a patient discloses they have schizophrenia (they become so wary, as if they've just been put in a cage with a hungry lion) because they assume, no thanks to the media, that all schizophrenics are knife-wielding lunatics.
