Ableism
The belief that people without disabilities are superior, have a better quality of life or have lives more valuable or worth living than people with an actual, perceived, or non-apparent disability resulting in othering, oppression, prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination.
Accessibility
The intentional design or redesign of physical spaces, technology, policies, system, entity products, and services (to name a few) that increase one's ability to use, access, and obtain the respective element.
Source: National Association of Counties – "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Key Terms and Definitions"
Accountability
The ways individuals and communities hold themselves responsible for their goals and actions and acknowledge the values and groups to which belong within the context of equity work.
Affirmative Action
Proactive policies and procedures for remedying the effect of past discrimination and ensuring the implementation of equal employment and educational opportunities, for recruiting, hiring, training and promoting women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans in compliance with the federal requirements enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).
Source: National Association of Counties – "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Key Terms and Definitions"
Age/Ageism
Oppression, prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination based on a person's actual or perceived age. The dominant culture assigns value based on a person's actual or perceived age
Ally
A person of one social identity group who advocates with and supports members of another group: typically, a member of the dominant identity advocating with and supporting a marginalized group.
Amplification
A technique allies use to boost the message of a member of a systemically non-dominant group by repeating and/or highlighting what that individual said and giving them credit for their ideas. Dominant group members and EDI practitioners are cautioned to use the "amplifying voice" concept as a consensual act and not as a performative act.
Anti-racism
Anti-racism is a process of actively identifying and opposing racism … rooted in action … taking steps to eliminate racism at the individual, institutional, and structural level
Anti-racist
Opposed to racism
Source: Merriam-Webster – "Anti-racist"
Antisemitism
a certain perception of Jews which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.
Assimilate
The phenomenon that occurs when people belonging to the non-dominant group adjust or integrate their behaviors or attitudes in an attempt to be accepted into the dominant group's culture norms either willingly or forcibly, for the sake of personal and/or professional survival (i.e., to gain/sustain access to the same opportunities and resources as the dominant group).
Belonging(ness)
Your well-being is considered and your ability to design and give meaning to society's structures and institutions is realized. More than tolerating and respecting differences, belonging requires that all people are welcome with membership and agency in the society. Belonging is vital to have a thriving and engaged populace, which informs distributive and restorative decision-making.
BIPOC
An acronym that stands for Black, Indigenous and People of Color. It is based on the recognition of collective experiences of systemic racism and meant to emphasize the hardships faced by Black and Indigenous people in the United States and Canada and is also meant to acknowledge that not all People of Color face the same levels of injustice. The use of this term is still evolving and contested by some activists.
Black Lives Matter
A movement founded in 2013 to end white supremacy and support Black communities.
Note: Black Lives Matter was founded by Black community organizers Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi after George Zimmerman was acquitted of charges relating to his fatal shooting of Black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012; the movement expanded as people reacted to police killings of unarmed Black people in years following. The name Black Lives Matter functions as a declaration that Black people's lives have as much value as white people's lives, and as a call to end systems and practices that challenge this fact.
Classism
Oppression, prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination based on a person's actual or perceived class to advantage and strengthen the dominant class.
Colonization
Forms of invasion, dispossession, subjugation, and systematic diminishment of Indigenous peoples, cultures, and spaces
Color
Pigmentation, complexion, or skin shade or tone. Skin color can be, but it not necessarily, a characteristic of race
Communities of Color
A term used primarily in the United States to describe communities of people who are not identified as White, emphasizing common experiences of racism.
Critical Race Theory
Critical race theory (CRT) was developed by activists and scholars interested in studying and transforming the relationship among race, racism, and power. The basic tenets of CRT assert that racism is a permanent, endemic component of American life and challenges the claims of neutrality, objectivity, colorblindness, and meritocracy in society. CRT further asserts that the experiential knowledge of BIPOC is appropriate, legitimate, and an integral part to analyzing and understanding racial inequality. The movement challenges ahistoricism and the single disciplinary foci of most analyses and insists that race and racism be placed in both a contemporary and historical context using interdisciplinary methods. CRT is a framework that is committed to a social justice agenda to eliminate all forms of subordination of people.
Cultural Appropriation
The adoption of an element or elements of a systemically nondominant culture or identity by members of the dominant culture or identity without giving credit, respecting their original meaning, and/or taking care to avoid perpetuating further oppression.
Cultural Competency
An ability to interact effectively with people of all cultures and understand many cultural frameworks, values, and norms. Cultural competence comprises four components:
- Awareness of one's own cultural worldview,
- Attitude towards cultural differences,
- Knowledge of different cultural practices and worldviews, and Cross-cultural skills.
A key component of cultural competence is respectfully engaging others with cultural dimensions and perceptions different from our own and recognizing that none is superior to another.
Cultural Humility
Approach to respectfully engaging others with cultural identities different from your own and recognizing that no cultural perspective is superior to another. Cultural humility may look different for different people or groups. For example, in a white dominant culture the practice of cultural humility for white people includes acknowledging systems of oppression and involves critical self-reflection, lifelong learning and growth, a commitment to recognizing and sharing power, and a desire to work toward institutional accountability. The practice of cultural humility for people of color includes accepting that the dominant culture does exist, that institutional racism is in place, to recognize one's own response to the oppression within it, to work toward dismantling it through the balanced process of calling it out and taking care of one's self
Culturally Responsive Engagement
Framework for culturally responsive approaches to education, developed by scholars and teacher educators Gloria Ladson-Billings (culturally relevant pedagogy), Geneva Gay (culturally responsive teaching), and Django Paris (culturally sustaining pedagogy). Collectively, these scholars promote asset-based approaches as alternatives to standard deficit-oriented teaching methods, which position the languages, cultures, and identities of students as barriers to learning. These frameworks share a common goal: defy the deficit model and ensure students see themselves and their communities reflected and valued in the content taught in school.
Disability
An actual, perceived, or non-apparent physical, sensory, mental, or cognitive condition that has an adverse effect on a person's ability to carry out day-to-day life functions. Environmental barriers may hinder persons with disabilities from fully and effectively participating on an equitable basis.
Discrimination
Consists of the negative behavior toward a person based on negative attitudes one holds toward the group to which that person belongs, or positive behavior toward a person based on positive attributes one holds toward the group to which that person belongs.
Diversity
Describes the presence of differences within a given setting, collective, or group. An individual is not diverse – a person is unique. Diversity is about a collective or a group and exists in relationship to others. A team, an organization, a family, a neighborhood, and a community can be diverse. A person can bring diversity of thought, experience, and trait, (seen and unseen) to a team — and the person is still an individual
Economic Justice
Economic justice is a component of social justice and welfare economics. It is a set of moral and ethical principles for building economic institutions, where the ultimate goal is to create an opportunity for each person to establish a sufficient material foundation upon which to have a dignified, productive, and creative life.
Source: Investopedia – "Economic Justice: Meaning, Examples of How to Achieve It"
Equality
Equality is the access to and distribution of a set of resources evenly across people. Equity, in contrast, is the access to or distribution of resources based on need. Equality and equity are separate concepts. Both have to do with fairness and justice, but how society achieves them and what they ultimately look like are different.
Source: Health – "What's the Difference Between Equity and Equality?"
Equity
The act of developing, strengthening, and supporting procedural and outcome fairness in systems, procedures, and resource distribution mechanisms to create equitable (not equal) opportunity for all people. Equity is distinct from equality which refers to everyone having the same treatment without accounting for differing needs or circumstances. Equity has a focus on eliminating barriers that have prevented the full participation of historically and currently oppressed groups.
Ethnicity
A social construct that divides people into smaller social groups based on characteristics such as values, behavioral patterns, language, political and economic interests, history, and ancestral geographical base
Ethnocentrism
The belief that one's own ethnic group or culture is superior to other ethnic groups and cultures.
Gaslighting
A form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment
Gender Expression
External appearance of one's gender, usually expressed through behavior, clothing, haircut or intonation, and which may or may not conform to societal expectations of a person's sex assigned at birth or their gender identity.
Gender Identity
A person's innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. A person's gender identity can be the same or different from their biological sex.
Genetic Information
Genetic information includes information about an individual's genetic tests and the genetic tests of an individual's family members, as well as information about the manifestation of a disease or disorder in an individual's family members
Homophobia
A term for fear, anger, intolerance, resentment, hatred, discomfort, or mistrust that one may have toward LGBTQ+ people. Can also connote a fear, disgust, or dislike of being perceived as LGBTQ+.
Identity
A person's innermost concept of self. How an individual perceives themselves and what they call themselves.
Inclusion
Intentionally designed, active, and ongoing engagement with people that ensures opportunities and pathways for participation in all aspects of group, organization, or community, including decision making processes. Inclusion is not a natural consequence of diversity. There must be intentional and consistent efforts to create and sustain a participative environment. Inclusion refers to how groups show that people are valued as respected members of the group, team, organization, or community. Inclusion is often created through progressive, consistent, actions to expand, include, and share.
Inclusive Pedagogy/Practice
Inclusive pedagogy refers to the ways that courses, classroom activities, curricula, and assessments consider issues of diversity in an effort to engage all students in learning that is meaningful, relevant, and accessible.
Source: University of Denver – "Inclusive Pedagogy"
Intersectionality
Intersectionality is a framework for understanding the interaction of cultures and identities held by an individual. Intersectionality explains how an individual with multiple identities that may have been marginalized can experience compounded oppression (such as racism, sexism, and classism) or how an individual can experience privilege in some areas and disadvantage in other areas. It takes into account people's overlapping identities to understand the complexity of their life outcomes and experiences
Invisible Labor
Based on the foundational work of Arlene Daniels and Arlie Hochschild, invisible labor is defined as "activities that occur within the context of paid employment that workers perform in response to requirements (either implicit or explicit) from employers and that are crucial for workers to generate income, to obtain or retain their jobs, and to further their careers, yet are often overlooked, ignored, unpaid, and/or devalued by employers." These "activities are performed for the benefit of the employer and from which the employer reaps profits." Invisible labor disproportionately impacts BIPOC and other systemically nondominant workers.
LGBTQ+
An acronym that describes individuals who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, and Asexual. The "+" respectively includes, but is not limited to, two-spirit and pansexual. The term queer is sometimes used within the community as an umbrella term to refer to all LGBTQ+ people. It may also be used as a political statement which advocates breaking binary thinking and seeing sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as fluid.
Liberation
The act of liberating: the state of being liberated. A movement seeking equal rights and status for a group.
Source: Merriam-Webster – "Liberation"
Macroaggressions
Brief and commonplace verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults towards BIPOC. Those who inflict racial microaggressions are often unaware that they have done anything to harm another person.
Microaggression
The everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership
Minoritization
The status of a group and its members relative to the socially dominant group, wherein minoritized people have less or no meaningful access to institutional power relative to members of the dominant group
Misogyny
The dislike of, contempt for, or engraved prejudice against women/females.
National Origin
System of classification based on the nation from which a person originates regardless of the nation they currently live. National origin is not something an individual can change, though origin can change through the generations of family
Oppression
Systemic devaluing, undermining, marginalizing, and disadvantaging of certain social identities in contrast to the privileged norm; when some people are denied something of value, while others have ready access. This can occur, intentionally and unintentionally, on individual, institutional, and cultural levels.
Othering
Othering encompasses the systematically expressed prejudice on the basis of group identities or membership. It is a common set of dynamics, processes, and structures that produces marginality and persistent inequality across any of the full range of human differences. It is a strategy of the dominant culture to prevent belonging. Dimensions of othering include, but are not limited to, religion, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (class), disability, sexual orientation, citizenship/immigration status, and skin tone
People of Color
Collective term for referring to non-white racial groups
Power
The ability to decide who will have access to opportunity and resources; the capacity to direct or influence the behavior of others, oneself, and/or the course of events
Privilege
Privilege is any unearned benefit, position, power, right, or advantage one receives in society because of their identity. In the United States, privilege is prevalent in the following areas:
- Ability privilege
- Age privilege
- Christian privilege
- Cis privilege
- Class or economic privilege
- Hetero privilege
- Male privilege
- National origin
- White privilege
Race
A social construct that divides people into smaller social groups based on characteristics most typically skin color. Racial categories were socially constructed, and artificially created whiteness as one of the elements of the dominant culture. Race was created to concentrate power and advantage people who are defined as white and justify dominance over non-white people. The idea of race has become embedded in our identities, institutions, and culture, and influences life opportunities, outcomes, and experiences. Racial categories change based on the political convenience of the dominant society at a given period of time.
Race-lighting
Race-lighting is distinguished from gaslighting when the messages used to invalidate the victim are racial. Race-lighting reinforces stereotypes that People of Color have lower capabilities, are morally destitute, and worth less. Passive race-lighting often occurs through implicit bias and microaggressions that shape the experiences of People of Color.
Racial Equity
The condition that would be achieved if one's racial identity no longer predicted, in a statistical sense, how one fares. When we use the term, we are thinking about racial equity as one part of racial justice, and thus we also include work to address root cause of inequities, not just their manifestation. This includes elimination of policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race or that fail to eliminate them.
Racial Justice
Fair and just treatment of all members of all racial groups, such that equitable opportunities and outcomes are possible for all members of a society.
Racialization
The act of giving a racial character to someone or something: the process of categorizing, marginalizing, or regarding according to race.
Racism
A form of prejudice that assumes that the members of racial categories have distinctive characteristics and that these differences result in some racial groups being inferior to others. Racism generally includes negative emotional reactions to members of the group, acceptance of negative stereotypes, and racial discrimination against individuals; in some cases, it leads to violence.
The perpetuation of historic, systemic discrimination against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).
Sexism
Discrimination or prejudice against a particular sex or gender on the assumption that another sex or gender is the social and cultural norm. It typically has the most negative impact on women.
Sexual Orientation
A person's physical, romantic, emotional, aesthetic, and/or other form of attraction to others. Gender identity and sexual orientation are not the same. For instance, transgender people can be straight, bisexual, lesbian, gay, asexual, pansexual, queer, etc., like anyone else.
Social Constructs
A social phenomenon or convention originating within and cultivated by society or a particular social group, as opposed to existing inherently or naturally.
Social Justice
A practice within a society based on principles of equality and solidarity that understands and values human rights and recognizes the dignity of every human being. Such a practice would strive to provide basic human needs and comforts to all members of the society regardless of class, race, religion, or any other characteristic
Systemic barriers
Obstacles that collectively affect a group disproportionately and perpetuate or maintain stark disparities in outcomes. Structural barriers can be policies, practices, and other norms that favor an advantaged group while systematically disadvantaging a marginalized group.
Source: Together We Will - "Systemic Barriers"
Transphobia
A term for fear, anger, intolerance, resentment, hatred, discomfort, or mistrust that one may have toward people who are transgender or gender non-conforming. The term can also connote a fear, disgust, or dislike of being perceived as transgender or gender non-conforming
Trauma
Severe and lasting emotional shock and pain caused by an extremely upsetting experience, or a case of such shock happening
Source: Cambridge Dictionary – "Trauma"
Unconscious bias
Refers to unconscious forms of discrimination and stereotyping based on race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, ability, age, and so on.
Source: Psychology Today – "What Is Unconscious Bias (And How You Can Defeat It)"
White Dominant Culture
Culture defined by white men and white women with social and positional power, enacted both broadly in society and within the context of social entities such as organizations.
White Privilege
The level of societal advantage that accompanies membership in the systemically dominant group; a right, advantage, or immunity granted to and/or enjoyed by white persons beyond the common advantage of all others; an exemption, in many cases, from certain burdens or liabilities. The acknowledgment of white privilege does not imply that white people do not face challenges or inequities
White Supremacy
An artificial, historically constructed culture which expresses, justifies and connects the United States white supremacy system. It is the glue that binds together white-controlled institutions into systems and white-controlled systems into the global white supremacy system. (Jones & Okun, 2001)
Xenophobia
A term for fear, anger, intolerance, resentment, hatred, discomfort, or mistrust that one may have toward people from other countries. The term can also connote a fear, disgust, or dislike of being perceived as a person from other countries