This topic has been influenced by the upcoming annual Cultural Week celebrations alongside my role on the Head Girls’ team; Minister for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Diversity is a vast term, it can be seen as a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts, which includes: race; ethnic origin and colour; religion and creed; sexual orientation; age; and ability – to name a few. As human beings evolve over time in our ever-changing world, all our ways of living and associating with one another are contained in this concept of diversity.
Diversity is ever so important in the 21st Century, as it leads to growing acceptance. Promoting diversity is the first step to true inclusion and acceptance rather than just tolerance. Through growing contact with, exposure to, and communication between people who are different from us, we can learn how to relate to these differences in a way where they doesn’t have to be a problem, barrier, or threat. Increasing familiarity with differences and commonalities can shape and shift our perspectives, cultivate an acceptance that facilitates belonging, and diminish the misconceptions and prejudice that fuel discrimination.
Furthermore, living in diverse communities broadens our perspectives on a wide range of issues. Hearing about another’s experience can shed light on a life different to your own, and provide you with a new perspective. When you contrast your struggles, needs and values with someone else’s, you can really begin to comprehend where an individual is coming from and empathetically understand their attitudes, behaviours, and beliefs on a deeper level.
Lastly, diversity brings along a richer life experience. Diversity is a natural state of being for the human race. In fact, it’s what our survival depends on. What if everyone who surrounded you was exactly like you, in every way? Where is the fun in only talking to people who are exactly like you? Groupthink might feel safer and more certain, but it invites cognitive dissonance, and very limited conversation. We need new ideas, views, and practices to stimulate and inspire us; to show us the way others eat, celebrate and love! Thus, it’s so important to recognise that diversity is absolutely fundamental to our surviving but it’s also absolutely key to our thriving.
How can you support diversity?
There are various ways to show support for groups you identify with (or do not identify with), some roles small and some a bit bigger. For starters, you could increase your level of understanding about other cultures by interacting with people outside of your own culture, whilst avoiding imposing values on others that may be inconsistent with other beliefs. Within the workplace, educational setting, and/or clinical setting, you could advocate for the use of materials that are representative of the various cultural and minority groups within the local community and the society in general. Finally, you can be proactive in listening, accepting and welcoming people and ideas that are different from your own.
Overall, diversity is important because our country, workplaces, and schools increasingly consist of members from various genders, cultural, racial, and ethnic groups. We can learn from one another, but first, we must have a level of understanding about each other. Learning about other cultures and backgrounds helps us understand different perspectives within the world in which we live. It helps dispel negative stereotypes and personal biases about different groups.
In addition, diversity helps us recognise and respect ‘ways of being’ that are not necessarily our own. So that as we interact with others we can build bridges to trust, respect, and understanding across cultures. Furthermore, this diversity makes our country a more interesting place to live in. As people from diverse backgrounds contribute language skills, new ways of thinking, new knowledge, and different experiences.
Derinsola, Minister for Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. (UVI)
Photo Credit: Image by pikisuperstar on Freepik
