DIVERSITY, EQUITY, INCLUSION & BELONGING GLOSSARY
This list is not all encompassing, but should rather serve as a starting point to seek out more information and begin open dialogues.
Ableism
Beliefs or practices that rest on the assumption that being able-bodied is “normal” while other states of being need to be “fixed” or altered. This can result in devaluing or discriminating against people with physical, intellectual or psychiatric disabilities.
Accommodation
A change in the environment or in the way things are customarily done that enables an individual with a disability to have equal opportunity, access and participation.
Ally/Allyship
A person who is not a member of a marginalized or disadvantaged group but who expresses or gives support to that group. Allyship has different meaning and significance depending on one’s lived experiences. Allies recognize that while not a direct member of the underinvested and oppressed communities, Allies still make a concerted and continuous effort to learn and empathize with the struggle.
Bias
Prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another, usually in an unfair or negative way. Unconscious bias, also known as implicit bias, is defined as “attitudes and stereotypes that influence judgment, decision-making, and behavior in ways that are outside of conscious awareness and/or control” -Harvard Professor Mahzarin Banaji
BIPOC
An abbreviation for Black, Indigenous, People of Color.
Cultural Appropriation
Originally coined to describe the effects of colonialism, cultural appropriation generally entails adopting aspects of a minority culture by someone outside the culture, without sufficient understanding of its context or respect for the meaning and value of the original. Cultural appropriation done in a way that promotes disrespectful cultural or racial stereotypes is considered particularly harmful.
Cultural Competence
Loosely defined as the ability to understand, appreciate and interact with people from cultures or belief systems different from one’s own.
Emotional Labor
Originally defined by sociologist Arlie Hochschild as the unpaid and personally draining work of regulating or managing emotional expressions as an expected part of one's professional work role (such as a server having to smile and be courteous to a customer who is rude to them). The definition has since been broadened to apply to many kinds of expected and unpaid emotionally taxing work, such as soothing, comforting, and easing the way for others in the workplace at the expense of one's own emotions.
Diversity
The condition of being different or having differences. Differences among people with respect to age, class, ethnicity, gender, health, physical and mental ability, race, sexual orientation, religion, physical size, education level, job and function, personality traits, and other human differences. Some describe organizational diversity as social heterogeneity.
Equity
Fair treatment for all while striving to identify and eliminate inequities and barriers.
Gaslighting
Popularized in the 1944 movie GasLight, it means a deliberate attempt to undermine a victim’s sense of reality or sanity. In a work context, it usually means behaviors that undermine the success, self-confidence, self-esteem or wellbeing of the target. For people in underrepresented or less powerful groups, it is more likely to occur, with more severe and harmful cumulative effects. Tactics can include withholding (critical information, meeting invitations, silent treatment), isolation (exclusion, causing conflict with coworkers), and discrediting (consistently shooting down the target’s ideas, ignoring or taking credit for them).
Inclusion
Ensuring all are visible, heard, considered and valued.
Indigenous
People who share ancestral relationships and ties to the physical land and resources they currently occupy or from which they have been displaced due to historic colonization and conflict.
Implicit Bias
A prejudice or an assumption that we unconsciously make about another person based on common cultural stereotypes, rather than on a thoughtful judgment.
Intersectionality
The complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect, and their multiple effects on the same individuals or groups. Also refers to the view that overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination and inequality can more effectively be addressed together.
Latinx
Relating to people of Latin American origin or descent.
Marginalization
Marginalize is commonly used as a verb meaning “to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position within society or group.” Marginalization, or to marginalize, is used to describe the casting aside of groups that are considered “other” within society.
Micro Affirmation
Small actions that can clear the way for opportunity, gestures of inclusion and caring, and graceful acts of listening. Mary Rowe, who coined the term micro-affirmations, defined them as small acts that foster inclusion, listening, comfort, and support for people who may feel isolated or invisible in an environment.
Micro Aggression
A comment or action that unconsciously or unintentionally expresses or reveals a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group, such as a racial minority. These small, common occurrences include insults, slights, stereotyping, undermining, devaluing, delegitimizing, overlooking or excluding someone. Over time, microaggressions can isolate and alienate those on the receiving end, and affect their health and wellbeing.