{"id":186,"date":"2019-05-06T18:46:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T22:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=186"},"modified":"2019-05-08T14:11:57","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T18:11:57","slug":"4-3-inclusive-language","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/chapter\/4-3-inclusive-language\/","title":{"raw":"4.3 Inclusive language","rendered":"4.3 Inclusive language"},"content":{"raw":"Good communicators include everyone and don\u2019t make assumptions about their readers. You can make your language more inclusive by:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Using the singular \u201cthey\u201d instead of \u201che or she.\u201d For example, instead of saying, \u201cA communicator should understand his or her audience,\u201d you could say, \u201cA communicator should understand their audience\u201d or \u201cCommunicators should understand their audience.\u201d<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Being specific when discussing a person\u2019s identity and use the terminology they prefer. For example, instead of saying \u201cMarilyn Gabriel is a First Nations person,\u201d you could say \u201cMarilyn Gabriel is a member of the Kwantlen Nation.\u201d Usually, a person\u2019s disability isn\u2019t relevant, but if it is, use neutral and specific language. For example, instead of saying \u201cBrent is confined to a wheelchair\u201d (which is both inaccurate, negative, and vague), you could say \u201cBrent uses a wheelchair\u201d or \u201cBrent has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.\u201d When in doubt, ask the person what terminology they prefer.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Question the assumptions that you make about your audience. Consider that many of your readers might not share the same cultural values or experiences. For example, a sentence like \u201cEvery child waits all year for Christmas morning,\u201d consider that many of your readers might not have shared this experience.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nYou should be especially careful when writing about groups of people in a way that might reinforce stereotypes. For example, in his book\u00a0<em>Elements of Indigenous Style<\/em>, Gregory Younging discusses how subtle bias can have a big impact when non-Indigenous people write about First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people. For example, instead of portraying Indigenous people as victims, focus on their \u201cresilience, agency, and future\u201d (2018, pg. 77). Instead of portraying an Indigenous culture as something static that existed in the past, focus on how that culture is thriving and changing.\r\n<h2>Reference<\/h2>\r\nYounging, G. (2018).\u00a0<em>Elements of Indigenous style: A guide for writing by and about Indigenous Peoples. <\/em>Edmonton, AB: Brush Education.\r\n<h2>Attribution<\/h2>\r\n<span>This chapter contains material taken from\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/arley\/chapter\/ch-4-style-and-tone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chapter 4 \u201cStyle and tone\u201d<\/a><span>\u00a0<\/span><span>in\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/arley\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Business Writing for Everyone<\/a><span>\u00a0(used under a\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license<\/a><span>).<\/span>","rendered":"<p>Good communicators include everyone and don\u2019t make assumptions about their readers. You can make your language more inclusive by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Using the singular \u201cthey\u201d instead of \u201che or she.\u201d For example, instead of saying, \u201cA communicator should understand his or her audience,\u201d you could say, \u201cA communicator should understand their audience\u201d or \u201cCommunicators should understand their audience.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Being specific when discussing a person\u2019s identity and use the terminology they prefer. For example, instead of saying \u201cMarilyn Gabriel is a First Nations person,\u201d you could say \u201cMarilyn Gabriel is a member of the Kwantlen Nation.\u201d Usually, a person\u2019s disability isn\u2019t relevant, but if it is, use neutral and specific language. For example, instead of saying \u201cBrent is confined to a wheelchair\u201d (which is both inaccurate, negative, and vague), you could say \u201cBrent uses a wheelchair\u201d or \u201cBrent has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.\u201d When in doubt, ask the person what terminology they prefer.<\/li>\n<li>Question the assumptions that you make about your audience. Consider that many of your readers might not share the same cultural values or experiences. For example, a sentence like \u201cEvery child waits all year for Christmas morning,\u201d consider that many of your readers might not have shared this experience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You should be especially careful when writing about groups of people in a way that might reinforce stereotypes. For example, in his book\u00a0<em>Elements of Indigenous Style<\/em>, Gregory Younging discusses how subtle bias can have a big impact when non-Indigenous people write about First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people. For example, instead of portraying Indigenous people as victims, focus on their \u201cresilience, agency, and future\u201d (2018, pg. 77). Instead of portraying an Indigenous culture as something static that existed in the past, focus on how that culture is thriving and changing.<\/p>\n<h2>Reference<\/h2>\n<p>Younging, G. (2018).\u00a0<em>Elements of Indigenous style: A guide for writing by and about Indigenous Peoples. <\/em>Edmonton, AB: Brush Education.<\/p>\n<h2>Attribution<\/h2>\n<p><span>This chapter contains material taken from\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/arley\/chapter\/ch-4-style-and-tone\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chapter 4 \u201cStyle and tone\u201d<\/a><span>\u00a0<\/span><span>in\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/arley\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Business Writing for Everyone<\/a><span>\u00a0(used under a\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license<\/a><span>).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":320,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-186","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":50,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/320"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":270,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/186\/revisions\/270"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/50"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/186\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=186"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=186"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/professionalcomms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}