Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Diversity
Diversity is the aspect or the state of people being different in different ways and perspectives of viewing. Diversity involves the state of people being multi-varied as per the different aspects of life that are being considered. According to Pincus (2011), diversity is the social aspect of being diverse in terms of the social, cultural and demographic factors that define a person. To extensively describe diversity in different ways, I will explore two major aspects of diversity; cultural diversity and functional diversity.
Cultural diversity is the characteristic of people being culturally different, with diverse aspects of cultural practices. In this perspective, people have cultural backgrounds that reflect their uniqueness. This cultural uniqueness identifies people differently when compared with other people from different cultures. In this regard, cultural diversity makes people from different cultures to be unique in their own way (Andersen & Taylor, 2007). Similarly, functional diversity is the term used to describe the differences in the abilities of people based on their physique. The term is sometimes used to refer to people with different special needs and impairments such as handicap features. This gives a sense that people are different and have different abilities to carry out certain functions.
Encouraging people to Honor Diversity
To encourage people to honor the uniqueness of each and every individual, I first take the time to describe to them what diversity does. According to Cross (2000), this helps people to understand the essence of diversity among people. I normally describe the diversity by discussing the definition above and explain to people that its diversity that defines each and every person’s uniqueness. As a result of understanding diversity, people around me comprehend the importance of appreciating the fact that we are created differently and with different abilities. According to Pincus (2011), the differences are the bases of our uniqueness. Therefore, I am passionate about talking to people about the importance of appreciating the uniqueness of each and every person.
In addition, I teach people to take the uniqueness of every other person as strength rather than as a weakness. This gives people a different view of the other person, in light of the spirit of positive diversity. This is because such a view helps people to look at others in a positive way rather than from a negative way. This works effectively to encourage people to honor the uniqueness of each individual. The most significant way to encourage people in this manner is to challenge them to view the strength in the other person as the thing that makes that person different from others (Andersen & Taylor, 2007). I encourage people by telling them that I view other people based on what they can do better than me, rather than focusing on what I can do better than them. This reduces the negative aspect of diversity and introduces it as strength in every person.
At the same time, I encourage people to honor the uniqueness of each other in order to promote unity in the world. This works by creating a sense of unity among people, despite their diverse cultural, functional and social backgrounds (Cross, 2000). I am able to achieve this by creating a feeling that unity is a mandatory aspect of life that is a necessity in any human endeavor. I therefore explain that unity only exists where there are elements of life that are not sharing the common origin. This is the fact with life, as each and every person does not share a completely same origin or uniqueness with each other. Therefore, to achieve unity and progress in life, it is inevitable to honor the uniqueness of the other person.
Challenging stereotypes
I challenge stereotypes by focusing on the universality of human beings as the one thing that makes all people human. I normally take the concept of people being a universal race that does things in a similar way, despite differences in strengths and weaknesses. This helps to beat the stereotypes that are placed on people from certain races, communities, ages or countries (Cross, 2000). For instance, I take that all people are bright and intelligent, despite having variations in the strengths and weaknesses in the achievements that people make. Therefore, the view that some races are more intelligent than others, or people from certain countries are foolish or slow, does not cross my mind. And if it does, then it means that all human beings are, because of my belief in the universality of human traits.
To promote sensitivity and inclusion, I always consider the feelings of the other person as if it was me. I make this consideration, every time I am making a decision about the other person, or when acting about the other person. I always ask myself, “what if it was me?” This question helps me to encourage other people to do the same and put themselves in the shoes of the other individual. As a result, people treat others the way they would like to be treated. This way, I am able to promote inclusion and promote sensitivity. Therefore, I am able to prevent any thoughts of negative application of diversity, and encourage other people to embrace the same views. I always encourage people to believe that if we all do this; the world would be a more cohesive and better place for all people.
References
Cross, E. (2000). Managing Diversity–the Courage to Lead. Santa Barbara: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Pincus, F. (2011). Understanding Diversity: An Introduction to Class, Race, Gender, Sexual Orientation, and Disability. Boulder: Lynne Rienner
Andersen, M., & Taylor, H. (2007). Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society, Updated. London: Cengage Learning