What Is Diversity?

1. What Is Diversity? • Racial/Ethnic • Disability • Cultural • Age • Gender • Sexual Orientation Arif Altaf

2. Am I Diverse? • Who am I? • What about my family? • Who are my associates? • Who do I associate with? Arif Altaf

3. Do I think Diverse? • What am I comfortable with? • Am I willing to go outside the box? • Can I change myself? • Can I go beyond tolerance? Arif Altaf

4. What do I assume? • The US is a meritocracy of equal individuals. • Americans don’t have a culture. • If it is different, it is wrong or deficient. • One should not talk about cultural diversity. • One should not admit to being biased or prejudiced. Hogan-Garcia (2014) Arif Altaf

5. Does diversity matter? • “results of the study provide evidence that practicing European American vocational rehabilitation counselors may be underestimating the future potential of African American clients.” Rosenthal (2014) RCB 47:3 Arif Altaf

6. Who Me? • My profession – roles and responsibilities, ethical requirement • A helping professional – empathic and understanding • Employee (Public Program) • As an advocate and concerned citizen Arif Altaf

7. Why Me? • Front Line – face to face • If not me – who? • Have an impact and influence – increase the quality of life for persons with disabilities • Be efficient and professional Arif Altaf

8. Impact and Influence • Top Down • Bottom Up • Importance of both • Responsibility to self, consumer (client), profession Arif Altaf

9. Small Group Exercise • “Applying the Aspects of Culture/Ethnicity to an Organization” • Purpose: To demonstrate the need for cultural understanding in the workplace. • from Hogan-Garcia (2014) The Four Skills of Cultural Diversity Competence. Arif Altaf

10. History Social Status Social Group Interaction Patterns Value Orientations Language and Communication: Verbal and Nonverbal Family Life Processes Healing Beliefs and Practices Religion Art and Expressive Forms Diet/Foods Recreation Clothing Hogan-Garcia (2014) Aspects of Culture or Ethnicity Arif Altaf

11. Discuss: What are 3 aspects of culture you need to understand to work or communicate better with your fellow students? Arif Altaf

12. History Social Status Social Group Interaction Patterns Value Orientations Language and Communication: Verbal and Nonverbal Family Life Processes Healing Beliefs and Practices Religion Art and Expressive Forms Diet/Foods Recreation Clothing Aspects of Culture or Ethnicity Arif Altaf

13. Discuss: What are 3 aspects of culture you need to understand to work or communicate better with strangers? Arif Altaf

14. Why does cultural diversity matter? Arif Altaf

15. Changing Demography • What’s changing? • Not business as usual • Globalization Arif Altaf

16. Racial/Ethnic Composition Percent of Total Population Group 1980 1990 2050 Anglo 65.7 60.6 47 Black 11.9 11.6 14 Hispanic 21.0 25.6 27 Asian 1.4 2.2 12 (Murdock, 2013) Arif Altaf

17. Caution! • Not easy – very complex • Avoid stereotyping • No one has ALL the answers • If in doubt, ASK! Arif Altaf

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20. Recommendations • In working with customers, keep in mind the centrality of respect in many cultures. • Don’t assume a title of address; ask the client what he or she prefers (Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., family or given name). Hays (2014) Arif Altaf

21. Recommendations • Even if you are knowledgeable about the other’s culture, do not assume that you are therefore knowledgeable about the personal experience of her or his culture and identity. Hays (2014) Arif Altaf

22. Recommendations • Use of self-disclosure in a way that allows clients to assess your ability to help them. • Stay aware of the different meanings of physical gestures, eye contact, silence and other forms of nonverbal communication. Hays (2014) Arif Altaf

23. Recommendations • Be aware of differences in preferences for physical space, including your own; if possible, use easily movable furniture to allow for different preferences. • Do not touch the assistive device (walker, wheelchair, prosthetic, etc.) of a person who has a disability without asking. Hays (2014) Arif Altaf

24. Recommendations • Consider what your office location, accessibility, and furnishings communicate about your awareness of people of different ages; people who have disabilities; religious or spiritually oriented people; people of various ethnicities; people who are gay, lesbian or bisexual. Hays (2014) Arif Altaf

25. Recommendations • Think about the meanings and intentions in your use of humor as carefully as you think about any other communication with clients. • Avoid psychological jargon. • Ask the client about the meaning of his or her use of a particular term Hays (2014) Arif Altaf

26. Remember… • Continually use critical thinking skills to think about your own assumptions in relation to clients’ communication styles, including verbal and nonverbal communication. Hays (2014) Arif Altaf

27. Questions for Reflection… • Go back to your small group. • Discuss what you learned about yourself in the course of this presentation. • Name 2 ways you can use what you learned in your daily life. Arif Altaf

28. Thank You! Arif Altaf