The quality or state of having — or being perceived as having — the physical, mental, or legal means or skill or power to do something. Ability is not permanent, can fluctuate throughout one’s life, and is another aspect of diversity in our communities. Disabilities do not necessarily limit people unless society imposes assumptions that do not account for the variation in people’s abilities. 

The ability, freedom, or permission to locate, get, or use information, resources, physical and virtual places, and people. See Accessibility2.

• 2. Being able to interact with products, devices, services, information, or environments in meaningful ways, with equal effectiveness and ease of use, regardless of ability.

Process through which a person or group from one culture comes to adopt the practices and values of different cultures, while still retaining their own distinct culture.

Describes those perceptual properties (i.e., auditory, visual, tactile, and so on) that we like and that we don’t like. 

A person of one social identity group who advocates with and supports members of another group, typically, a member of the dominant identity advocating with and supporting a marginalized group. While people can identify as allies, allyship is an active practice, more than an identity

A process of actively identifying and opposing racism … rooted in action … which advances policies and ideas that reduce racial inequities at the individual, institutional, and/or structural level.

The phenomenon that occurs when people belonging to the non-dominant group adjust or integrate their behaviors or attitudes in an attempt to be accepted into the dominant group’s cultural norms, either willingly or forcibly, for the sake of personal and/or professional survival (i.e., to gain/sustain access to the same opportunities and resources as the dominant group).

The notion that one is superior based on one’s ability to hear or to behave in the manner of one who hears. This is a form of discrimination directed against the people who are deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing. 

The sense of your well-being being considered and your ability to design and give meaning to society’s structures and institutions being realized. More than tolerating and respecting differences, belonging requires that all people are welcome with membership and agency in the society. Belonging is vital to have a thriving and engaged populace, which informs distributive and restorative decision-making. Belonging calls for something more than Inclusion and Equity, yet also includes them in meaningful ways. Belonging is both objective and subjective. It can be quantified and measured, but it is also a perception found in the eye of the beholder. In this respect, Belonging, unlike both Equity and Inclusion, contains a psychological component — an affective component, which shapes the way social groups regard whatever it is they are regarding: an institution, a city, or even society writ large. If members of a social group feel as if they belong, then belonging exists. But if they do not, despite being included and having few tangible resource inequities or other disparities between groups, then belonging is lacking. A core element of belonging: the expressive or communicative message that a group belongs. It can be expressed explicitly, through representation, or by signaling that members of a particular group are welcome in a particular space, institution, or community. It can also be expressed implicitly, as when accommodations are made, such as when special food or holidays are provided for. Belonging is perceptual and tangible; it is a feeling and a practice. Belonging requires more than accommodation; it also demands agency. Belonging is realized fully when included groups have more than a voice — they are actually able to reshape the institution together with existing stakeholders. See Othering4.

• 4. Othering encompasses the systematically expressed prejudice on the basis of group identities or membership or perceived group identities or membership. It is a common set of dynamics, processes, and structures that produces marginality and persistent inequality across any of the full range of human differences. It is a strategy of the dominant culture to prevent belonging. Dimensions of othering include, but are not limited to, religion, sex, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status (class), disability, sexual orientation, citizenship/immigration status, and skin tone

A term for fear, anger, intolerance, resentment, hatred, discomfort, or mistrust that one may have toward bisexual people. The term can also connote a fear, disgust, or dislike of being perceived as bisexual.

Oppression, prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination based on a person’s actual or perceived class to advantage and strengthen the dominant class.

Colorblind Ideology is the belief that discrimination can be eradicated by treating individuals as equals without focusing on race or ethnicity. Colorblind ideology assumes institutional racism and discrimination have been largely eradicated. This belief can lead to a dismissal of social and cultural factors still affecting many people of color, a dismissal of the cultural heritage and unique perspectives of individuals, a denial of negative racial experiences, as well as a rejection of policies that attempt to address existing inequities. Colorblindness is typified by the phrase, “I don’t see color,” with color referring to ethnicity, culture, and race.

Theft, exploitation, or mimicry of cultural elements for one’s own personal use or profit — including symbols, dress, art, music, dance, language, land, customs, medicine, etc. — often without understanding, acknowledgment, or respect for its value in the original culture. In the United States, it results from the assumption of a white dominant culture’s right to take other cultural elements. See White-Dominant Culture7.

• 7. Culture defined by white people with social and positional power, enacted both broadly in society and within the context of social entities such as organizations.

Approach to respectfully engaging others with cultural identities different from your own and recognizing that no cultural perspective is superior to another. Cultural humility may look different for different people or groups. For example, in a white-dominant culture, the practice of cultural humility for white people includes acknowledging systems of oppression and involves critical self-reflection, lifelong learning and growth, a commitment to recognizing and sharing power, and a desire to work toward institutional accountability. The practice of cultural humility for people of color includes accepting that the dominant culture does exist, that institutional racism is in place, to recognize one’s own response to the oppression within it, to work toward dismantling it through the balanced process of calling it out, and taking care of one’s self.