Storytelling for social change

by Linde Zingaro

"Many professionals in health, education, and community service roles are caught in a particular identity bind - living in a complex social borderland of credibility and professional authority while experiencing or having experienced the same discrimination, violence and/or trauma they've committed their working lives to changing for others. For some, the disclosure of their own stories of marginalization has become a tool for advocacy, for telling a larger truth; for others, self-disclosure is a more personal action, intended to assist those isolated in their suffering in developing trust and connection. Linde Zingaro, a lifelong social service worker and activist, interviewed several colleagues who have chosen to speak out in this way, talking about their ethics and intentions, and collaborating to identify some of the risks for negative personal and professional consequences for the practioner. She uses their voices - and her own - to illustrate some of the ways that these people ha