/diversity-inclusion-primer

Some practical tips for inclusive writing, event organising etc.

Diversity and Inclusion Primer

Some practical tips for inclusive writing, job descriptions and community organising. PR's and comments especially from folks with diverse perspectives welcome!

In most cases it’s best to not make a big deal of someone’s identity, don’t reduce people to tokens

  • Promote people’s awesome work not their physical characteristics or identity.
  • Don’t publicly single out ‘diverse’ people solely because of their identity.
  • Amplify people’s own voices, don’t speak for them.

If you must mention people’s identity, or you are writing / speaking specifically about diversity and inclusivity…

  • Check your wording for colloquialisms that might be condescending or offensive.
  • If in doubt just use the proper, or most respectful terms.
  • Google proper terms if you’re not 100% sure.
  • Remember inclusive means welcoming to everyone, not just white, cis, able men and women.
  • Read your ad/slides/invite etc text with terms for a different group substituted - if it suddenly sounds weird rewrite!
  • “Guys/he/him/man” are not gender neutral.

Some general culture stuff…

  • Assume people you meet at work / industry events are technically proficient, even if you think they look young, or more like a designer, or whatever.
  • If you mess up and offend someone that has less privilege than you, don’t expect them to make you feel better about it.
  • Educate yourself about diversity and inclusion, share what you have learned with other privileged people rather than expecting marginalised people to do that work.
  • Don’t equate traditionally masculine traits with higher intelligence or work quality.
  • Don’t value masculine traits more than feminine traits.
  • Don’t assign higher value to white dress / hair styles or predominantly white experiences.
  • If you need ongoing advice please consider hiring a diversity consultant.

Some links…