Six Principles of Using Inclusive Language--In-service Presentation, August 12, 2024 Wenxi Schwab by Wenxi

Look for distortions like inflating language, which presents reasonable behavior as inappropriate or threatening, and softening language, which presents problematic behavior (usually by people with power) as acceptable.

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This includes the defense of “just joking”, which falsely claims that a humorous framing makes anything acceptable.

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Avoid language that present gender as binary, use the correct pronouns to refer to people, and do not assume you know someone’s gender.

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Avoid giving unconscious demotions when you meet someone who does not match your mental models.

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When you encounter an unusual name, take the time to make sure you are spelling and saying it correctly. This includes finger spelling.

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Do not use nicknames or pet names without permission. And avoid saying “sir” and “ma’am” when you are not sure of someone’s gender.

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Refer to one individual: Use the terminology that an individual person prefers. You can listen to or read the terminology they use and mirror it.

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Refer to a group: use the terminology preferred by the in-group activities. American disability activists generally prefer identity-first language for themselves. Person-first language has the flavor of being the language used by the out-group, by people who are not disabled.

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Use requested identity terms, and when a disability or other term becomes unpleasantly negative due to pejoration, use the new requested term instead.

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Speak respectfully to disabled people, and do not unconsciously demote them or presume they are incompetent.

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Do not casually point out the ways people are different and avoid using diverse in ways that suggest that diversity only involves people who are in marked categories.

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Do not assume that your experience is everyone else’s experience, especially for situations in which you are in the dominant group.

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When taking perspective, follow through with that second step “What would this be like if I had hat person’s lived experiences?” Make sure you are not accidentally leaving people out of the pronoun circle with words like you, us, and everyone.

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Do not focus on the overrepresented or over privileged people who do deeply problematic and antisocial things (rather than their targets)

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Use gender-neutral language to include people who are not male because words like mankind, guys, manpower are not universal.

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Avoid misnaming people and put in the effort so you do not mistake one underrepresented person for “the other one”.

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Use language that reflects the real variety of skin tones, do not forget that women who love women exist, and when creating or updating historical narratives, make sure you incorporate indigenous history.

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Phrase your compliments so they will land well and avoid compliments that reveal lowered expectations.

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Avoid jokes and terminology that lightly reference history or painful experiences for other people, including words like master/slave or master bedroom.

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Be careful with mental health terminology.

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Avoid using terms like crazy or schizophrenic or OCD just to describe problematic behavior.

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Basic LGBTQ Terms

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Gender Neutral Pronouns

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Thoughts and Reflections

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What questions do you have as a group?

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Quick Win #1: Do not assume you know someone's gender identity or pronouns just by looking at them. Instead of saying things like "a man like you" or "a woman like you," you can say "a person like you".

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Quick Win #2: When you are given someone's pronouns, like on a name tag or at the bottom of a Zoom window, use those pronouns. Even if they do not feel natural or they seem at odds with that person's appearance. Use the correct pronouns. And instead of calling them preferred pronouns, just call them pronouns.

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Quick Win #3: Instead of language that suggests gender is binary, use language that reflects the more complex reality. For example, instead of the opposite sex, you can say another gender. And instead of using phrases like he or she to mean everybody, say everyone or they.

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Quick Win #4: When talking to babies, avoid gender stereotypes. Do not tell only AMAB (Assigned Male at Birth) babies that they are strong and smart--tell all babies. And do not tell only (Assigned female at birth) babies that they are well-behaved or good-looking--again, tell all babies.

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Quick win #5: Use current terminology to refer to transgender people and transitioning. For example, transgender rather than transsexual. And transitioning or getting gender-affirming care instead of getting a sex change operation.

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Quick win #1: When you meet someone with a low-frequency name that you might not remember how to pronounce or spell, make a note of the pronunciation or spelling in a place you can easily check later. Like in the Notes field in your phone contacts.

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Quick win #2: If you are using a nickname for someone, check in with them and make sure that nickname is okay. And do not jump to a nickname for someone new without making sure it is acceptable to them.

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Quick Win #3: Make a habit of asking people which honorific they prefer. They may prefer one beyond Mr., Ms., or Mrs. Then make a note of that honorific and use it.

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Quick Win #4: Spend a few minutes brainstorming polite and gender-neutral ways you can address someone unknown. ("Excuse me, kind person.") Then practice them so you are more fluent in the moment.

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Quick Win #5: Be on the alert for times when people perceived as women are presented using their first name only while people seen as men are presented with their title. Close the "respect gap" by using Title Last name for everybody.

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Quick Win #1: Use neutral language to describe accessibility aids and accommodations. For example, instead of describing someone as "confined to a wheelchair," describe them as someone who "uses a wheelchair" or "is a wheelchair user." Instead of saying, "She is stuck with hearing aids," you can say, "She uses hearing aids." (Note that a wheelchair provides physical mobility instead of confinement, and hearing aids can facilitate auditory perception for people who are hard of hearing.)

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Quick Win #2: Avoid calling a person a spaz and avoid calling people or things lame. And avoid the phrase spaz out. Instead of lame, you can call something boring or unoriginal or unexciting or sad. Instead of spaz out you can say flip out or lose it.

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Quick Win #3: Avoid expressing surprise (both in and out of their presence) that disabled people are competent and capable of doing things like holding a job or flying on a plane.

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Quick Win #4: Only use diverse to describe groups of people. If you want to point out someone is a member of the dominant group, you can call them dominant group or overrepresented. If you want to point out that someone is not a member of the dominant group, you can refer to them as underrepresented or marginalized.

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Quick Win #5: Avoid using racial or ethnic terms to describe only people of color. If you are going to mention some one's race or ethnicity, then mention it for everyone involved--do not mark only people of color as having a race.

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Quick Win #1: If you are in the US. Avoid romanticizing plantations and Spanish missions. Do not present them as aspirational--like a romantic "Plantation wedding" or "Plantation shutters". For descendants of enslaved Africans and for Native Americans, these are the sites of atrocities.

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Quick Win #2: When talking about the Covid-19 pandemic, avoid language like "When we were all staying at home and had extra time on our hands". Use language that includes the perspectives of a)essential workers who did not stay home, and b)people taking care of small children who had anything but extra time on their hands.

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Quick Win #3: do not offer a blanket "Happy Mother's Day" or "Happy Father's Day". For many people, these holidays are a point of pain or are simply not relevant. Make sure you know enough about a person and their circumstances before you say or write "Happy Mother's Day" or "Happy Father's Day" to them.

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Quick Win #4: Instead of Oriental, say Asian. And, whenever possible, be more precise--for example, say Chinese or Pakistani or Cambodian.

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Quick Win #5: When you see headlines like "Police officer had sex with underage girl in the back of his car", translate them to be more accurate. (This is a real headline with specifics removed). Rape is an unpleasant word, but the actually appropriate term, as children cannot consent to sex with adults. And if you are someone who writes headlines, then you can avoid softening language that takes the perspective of the perpetrator.

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Quick Win #1: Welcoming a group of adults? Avoid "ladies and gentlemen", which erases nonbinary people. Good alternatives include "Welcome, everyone!" or calling people "colleagues" or "friends" or "esteemed guests". For children, avoid "boys and girls". Instead, there is "students", or "children", or "everyone", and so on.

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Quick Win #2: Switch out from "hey, guys" and "you guys" to gender neutral ways to address people. It does not have to be the same word all the time; most people like to switch it up a bit. "Hey, team" can be followed later by "Okay, everyone". Some people are comfortable with y'all, which is a handy word. "Pittsburgh enjoys the use of yinz. And Philly up to the New York metro region, lean in to that youse! And England--keep it going with your you lot! Etc."

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Quick Win #3: Switch words with man and men in them for gender neutral equivalents. A committee chair. A business person. Humanity instead of mankind. Synthetic instead of manmade. For more examples, see the suggested substitutions in the Resources section at the end of this book.

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Quick Win #4: Avoid writing about the original inhabitants of your location as if they are all dead and gone without doing some research on their status.

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Although some Native (or otherwise indigenous) groups did not survive colonization as functioning communities, many others did. Let's say you are in Northern California and want to write about the names of the original places. Instead of writing something like "the real sentence. "The pomos once called this mountain Konocti", you can write, "The Pomos, who have lived near Clear Lake for more than ten thousand years, call this mountain Konocti."

Quick Win #5: Avoid deadnaming people. This includes saying things like "Isabella, who used to go by Tony". If you have known someone a long time, you will probably slip up in the early days of a name switch. You can just quickly correct yourself--"Sorry, I meant Isabella"--and move on.

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Quick Win #1: Avoid telling Black people that they are articulate in ways that suggests it is a surprise. If someone has been impressively articulate by any standard, then be specific about what was remarkable about their performance.

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Quick Win #2: Avoid telling people disabled people that they are brave or courageous or a hero or an inspiration just for going about their day. For example, if you see someone with a prosthetic leg working out at the gym, instead of saying, "You are so inspirational!" you can say something like "Hi. Good workout today?"

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Quick Win #3: Instead of master bedroom, you can say primary bedroom or main bedroom. Same with master bathroom.

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Quick Win #4: Instead of slave driver, you can describe someone as a stickler or rough manager or taxic boss.

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Quick Win #5: Avoid using mental health terms to describe people behaving in ways you do not like. Instead of psycho, schizo, or OCD, you can say things like capricious, unpredictable, or fanatic about neatness.

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