EASIT: Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training
This is unit 1, Media Accessibility;
element 1, Human diversity;
video lecture, "Human diversity".
I am Anna Matamala, from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
and in this short lecture I will be defining
some concepts related to human diversity.
We are all unique.
We all have individual differences.
We can think of human diversity in terms of major differences
between groups related to factors such as ethnicity,
culture, gender, sexual orientation,
marital status, first language,
socio-economic status,
age, physical and mental capabilities,
religious beliefs, political beliefs,
or national origin, among many others.
These categories are not always fixed,
and definitions of diversity may adopt
a narrower or a broader perspective.
I would invite you to read a chapter entitled
"Social and psychological perspectives on diversity",
by Lilian Otaye-Ebede and Loliya Akobo.
It was published in 2020 in the second edition of the book
"Managing diversity and inclusion",
edited by Jawad Syed and Mustafa Ozbilgin.
The authors explain
that what unites narrow and broader definitions
of human diversity
is the concept of difference.
They say, and I quote,
"diversity can be defined as a variety
of visible and non-visible differences
(e.g. gender, ethnic, social class,
age, religion)
inherent amongst individuals and groups.
However, an evaluation of extant diversity research
shows more emphasis given to social groups
that have been historically subjected to discrimination
such as by gender, age, ethnicity,
race, disability, sexual orientation
and hence have been protected by laws across the globe".
These same authors provide
some interesting insights into four concepts
when working with different social groups.
Let me summarise these key concepts.
The first is stereotypes.
Stereotypes are considered, and I quote,
"biased generalisations about a social group".
They are related to cognition.
We learn them in different ways
(for example, through communication
with parents and peers, through the media)
and they are difficult to change.
The authors I mentioned posit an example that we may decide
that "children who wear glasses are geeks, not good at sports"
or that "blonde women are unintelligent".
These are stereotypes.
The second is prejudice.
In a classic definition, Allport defines it
as, and I quote, "antipathy based
on a faulty or inflexible generalization".
Prejudices are often based on stereotypes
and impact on the way
we communicate and behave with others,
on the way we think.
Given the way we think of a group, due to a stereotype,
we develop a negative emotion towards a social group,
we develop a prejudice.
For instance, some people may dislike or hate someone
with a certain sexual orientation.
The third concept is unconscious bias.
Without being aware of it,
we may favour those who look like us
or share similar values over others who don't.
The last concept is discrimination.
Discrimination is linked to behaviour.
When people are treated less favourably,
because they are linked to a group
(because of age, physical and mental capabilities, ethnicity, etc.),
discrimination occurs.
This discrimination can be direct or indirect,
and can take multiple forms.
I will refer to two examples put by Lilian Otaye-Ebede
and Loliya Akobo in their chapter.
For example, when a man and a woman
are equally qualified for a post,
the job maybe offered to the male because most of the staff are men
and think the man will fit in better.
This would be direct discrimination.
Another example would be when a higher education institution
does not allow dogs at all on the premises.
This can be an indirect discrimination
against persons with sight loss with a guide dog.
Discrimination against people with disabilities
is known as ableism or disablism.
Michelle Nario-Redmon, in the book
"Ableism: The Causes and Consequences of Disability Prejudice",
published in 2020,
considers that, despite the many definitions of "ableism",
it could be simply defined as, and again, I quote,
"prejudice and discrimination towards individuals
simply because they are classified as disabled
regardless of whether their impairments are physical or mental,
visible or invisible".
From a theoretical point of view, the bibliography is extensive,
and I am sure you will be able to find interesting readings
to get a deeper learning of all these concepts.
I would like to finish this video with reference to two key documents.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in its Article 2:
"Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms
set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind,
such as race, colour,
sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion,
national or social origin,
property, birth or other status.
Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis
of the political, jurisdictional or international status
of the country or territory to which a person belongs,
whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing
or under any other limitation of sovereignty."
And I will also quote the UN Convention
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in its article 5:
"States Parties shall prohibit all discrimination
on the basis of disability
and guarantee to persons with disabilities
equal and effective legal protection against discrimination on all grounds".
I hope this lecture was food for thought.
This video lecture has been prepared by Anna Matamala,
from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
You can reach me at anna.matamala@uab.cat.
Pictures.
Source: pixabay.com,
publicdomainvectors.org.
License: Pixabay License, CC0.
The project EASIT has received funding
from the European Commission
under the Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships
for Higher Education programme,
grant agreement 2018-1-ES01-KA203-05275.
The European Commission support for the production of this publication
does not constitute an endorsement of the contents,
which reflect the views only of the authors,
and the Commission cannot be held responsible
for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Partners of the EASIT project:
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,
Università degli Studi di Trieste,
Universidade de Vigo,
Stiftung Universität Hildesheim,
SDI München,
Dyslexiförbundet,
Radiotelevisija Slovenija,
Zavod Risa.
EASIT: Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training