One minute to write down all of the words and phrases that come to your mind when I say the word "diversity."

An extra minute if needed

Then, play like scategories. if it's available, write the words down on the board/paper and place a tally next to each word depending on how many people have it.

If more than one person has it, the players need to cross it off of their list.

The player with the most words uncrossed, wins

the facilitator should have a list of all of the words and a tally of how frequently they came up.

The point:
Diversity is more than just race, orientation, gender, religion, ability, SES, age, etc. It is what makes us all unique

Ask: What messages do we often hear about diversity?

talking about diversity is scary and challenging b/c there's so much out there. no one wants to step on toes

let's debunk some myths:

Cultural competence does not mean learning as many "characteristics" as possible about every culture.

In fact, to the contrary, the process of cultural competence means that a person (1) learns to recognize and reject his or her preexisting beliefs about a culture, (2) learns to recognize the influence of their own culture on creating those beliefs about other cultures, (3) focuses on understanding information provided by individuals within the context at hand (e.g., patient, front desk, etc.) and (4) forgoes the temptation to classify or label persons with cultural names.

This process makes cultural competence a more manageable task that avoids fixed, generalized cultural misinformation.

Each person has different levels of awareness and sensitivity about his or her own diversity or culture. Every human being, however, holds preconceptions about "different" cultures or dimensions of diversity.

Every person, including a person outside the dominant culture, must use some kind of deliberate, analytical process to examine cultural misinformation and strive for cultural competence in each individual case.

Diversity is the collective mixture of differences and similarities among all individuals in an organization. Diversity pertains to each and every one of us, and therefore, an effective program should be inclusive-enabling everyone to have an equal voice and an equal opportunity to utilize their talents.


http://www.ncd.gov/publications/2006/june2006

Yes, it’s true that we should treat every person fairly but this does not necessarily mean equally.

No, it is about inclusivity. In other words, diversity is about all of us. Diversity is about creating a culture where everyone (each individual) can thrive and contribute to your organization and understand and serve your increasingly diverse clients.

the need/ desire to value all of our differences as things that make us unique.

inclusivity means focusing on the intersection of our identities - finding our common ground and focusing on that.

circles of my multicultural self activity
-- stereotyping is creating shortcuts and is harmful

when we categorize people into identifiable groups (use examples of identities in the group) based on what is visible, the tendency is to fill in other information about that person based on the groups that we have identified the person with.

this brings us back to intersectionality.

ask for someone to volunteer one of their identities.
show of hands to see who else has that identity written down.
--- do they have any additional similar identities? does that make them the same person?

no. so if we see diversity as just one identity, we're missing the whole picture. we have to see people as people - as a collection of all of our identities.

we bring all of these identities to everything we do. when we feel safe in these environments, we challenge the team in positive ways to create something better

there's a difference between a group and a team, and it has to do with diversity.

a group is a collection of individuals all working towards their own goals.

a team is a collection of individuals all working towards the same goal.

unfortunately, group members tend to cloak their weaknesses, or what they perceive as weaknesses; we hide our true opinions and assessments; we act defensively when challenged.

when "diversity" becomes welcoming, rather than scary, we are more likely to work as a team. team members understand each other and support each other.

we need to become AWARE - to build a greater awareness of ourselves and our coworkers in order to create a safer space.

Embracing diversity is more than tolerating people who are different. It means actively welcoming and involving them by:

Developing an atmosphere that is safe for all employees to ask for help. People should not be viewed as weak if they ask for help. This is what helps to build great teams — joining weakness with strengths to get the goal accomplished.

Actively seeking information from people from a variety of backgrounds and cultures. Also, including everyone on the problem solving and decision making process.

Including people in informal gatherings such as lunch, coffee breaks, and spur of the moment meetings.

Creating a team spirit where every member feels a part of.

----
http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/leader/diverse.html

share some of these answers,
then take a little break before coming back to the rest of the presentation.

Establish a culture of positive intent. Know that everyone is coming from a good, positive place.

Question your own assumptions

If you find yourself slipping into a stereotype, bias, or other judgement, acknowledge it.

If you find yourself feeling like someone is projecting a stereotype/judgement/bias on you, acknowledge it.

We must, must, must be able to communicate freely and effectively.

Our intent is not always the same as the impact in our actions, thoughts, behaviors.

some of this has to do with our own fears and perceptions of who we're communicating with, as well as their fears/perceptions

http://www.diversitycentral.com/tools_and_resources/inclusion/feature_summa...

--
chart on page 3 of that .pdf

everyone sees things from their perspective. it's not inherently bad or good, it's just something to be aware of.

ask:
how do our assumptions impact our actions?

The words we use signal to others how much we know, care, or care to know.

Language is a powerful tool; it shapes our realities. Language is used to present and perpetuate particular views of society and
of ‘others’. Language can consciously or unconsciously offend, intimidate, reinforce harmful stereotypes and contribute to the unequal status of individuals.

Language can be aggressive even if we don't intend it to be

A micro-aggression is a subtle, often automatic, stereotypical, and insensitive behavior or comment or assumption about a person’s identity, background, ethnicity, or disability. Micro-aggressions may be intentional or non-intentional.


Micro-invalidation, degrading a person’s wholeness through making false assumptions about the other’s ability, causing a sense of invalidation.

Generally, descriptors that refer to personal attributes such as race, gender, sexual orientation, disability or age, for example, tend to over-emphasize and draw undue attention to the distinguishing attribute.


----
http://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/diversity-language-guidelines.cfm

A loooooooong, great list:
http://www.unh.edu/inclusive/bias-free-language-guide

As evidenced there, there's no way we can always say the right thing. But we can work on trying to be the best we can.

examples:
retarded, lame, foreigners, illegal aliens, queers, old folks, manpower,

Watch out for all metaphors, really:

"that person is so ADD" or "he's so bipolar"

Identities are personal. It is important to realize that each person will define their own identity. Identity terms are meant for individuals to use to identify themselves and not for us to identify them.


Inclusive Language is communication that does not stereotype or demean people based on personal characteristics including gender, gender expression, race, ethnicity, economic background, ability/disability status, religion, sexual orientation, etc.

Using inclusive language is sometimes referred to as using non-discriminatory language. Essentially it means that we should use language that does not demean, insult,
exclude, stereotype, or trivialize people on the basis of their membership of a certain group or because of a particular
attribute.

As much as using the ‘right’ terms or words is something we all work towards, it is equally important to foster a climate of open, effective communication and demonstrate a willingness to learn.




---
http://www.uq.edu.au/equity/docs/Inclusive-Language.pdf

We talked about awareness a little earlier.

A huge factor in inclusivity is apathy, the idea that it doesn't matter.
But we've just learned that it does matter. So we need to become aware of our surroundings in order to help ourselves and help others.

Make every interaction the best it can possibly be. for you, for others.

Think of awareness as a 3 year old. Everything is new, they notice EVERYTHING.

Take stock of your surroundings. Listen to what's going on around you. Be a part of what's happening.

Assess the situation based on your awareness.

Determine the necessity of addressing the situation. And determine the amount of risk you're willing to put into it.

There's a way to address situations with high, medium, low risk to every scenario.


DO:

kindly point out the error

provide correction for the future

reinforce positive behavior


DO NOT

chew their head off

make them feel like bad people

reflect their behavior


ABOVE ALL

focus on kindness

Platinum Rule:
Do unto others as they would want done to them

Think about diversity as inclusive, rather than exclusive

Challenge your "snap judgements" of others, and the snap judgements you THINK others are making about you.

Use what you've learned today as you move forward

Educate
-- continue to educate yourself and others

work towards "Intercultural Competence"
knowledge of others, knowledge of self, skills to interpret and relate, skills to discover and/or to interact, valuing others values, beliefs, and behaviors, and relativizing one's self. Also involves the development of one's skills and attitudes in successfully interacting with persons of diverse backgrounds.

Be intentional. with language, with actions. live intentionally.

Empower
-- yourself and others