14 Tips on Communicating With Diversity in Mind

Here are 14 great tips that may help your written and oralcommunication.

1. Remember that diversity has many levels and complexities, including cultures withincultures.
   A 70-year-old female small business owner from Brazil may be very differentfrom a 26-year-old man of Mexican descent.
2. Don’t separate people.
   Avoid phrases like “Jewish people understandthat ….”
3. Admit what you don’t know.
   People from outside of America know a lot aboutAmerica from TV and movies, but we know less about them. Homosexuals know all aboutheterosexuals; few heterosexuals know much about homosexuals.
4. Notice what people call themselves.
   Do they use Persian or Iranian; Korean orAsian; Black or African-American; Hispanic or Chicano.
5. Don’t make assumptions based on a person’s appearance, name or group.
   For example, many people with ethnic or religious last names don’t belong to thereligion or ethnicity identified with that name. Another example: Don’t assume thatbecause someone is of a certain religion or nationality, they belong to a certainpolitical party or have certain stereotypical opinions associated with that ethnicity.
6. Don’t patronize.
   Avoid phrases like “You understand the importanceof…”.
7. Don’t doubt the authenticity of what you hear.
   Each person is the highestauthority on what she or he feels.
8. Be willing to have your biases changed.
9. When writing, replace judgements with facts.
   Rather than using the word”elderly,” give a person’s age — if it’s even relevant.
10. When writing and speaking, consider whether some references and adjectives should bedeleted.
    For example, in describing Driving Miss Daisy as a movie about a”Southern woman and her Black chauffeur,” is the word Black necessary?
11. Use parallel titles and terms.
    Sometimes men are referred to using their firstand last names, but women are referred to with just their first names. Avoid such bias.
12. Think about your use of “we.”
    Sentences like: “As we approachChristmas, contact the HR department if you want to help with party planning” can bevery alienating.
13. Don’t use judgmental words.
    The term “openly gay” is lessjudgmental than “admittedly gay” or “avowed homosexual.” Also,”sexual orientation” is considered more accurate and less judgmental than”sexual preference.”
14. When writing, have someone review your work who may have a different perspective.
    

SOURCE: Compiled by Workforce Online from “When We Talk,” “No Offense Intended,” “23 Tips on Cross-Cultural Communication,” and “How to Communicate Better with Clients, Customers, and Workers Whose English Is Limited,” by Transamerica Life Companies, GTE Telephone Operations, and the County of Los Angeles Commission on Human Relations.