Am I being unwoke?

Win

Perfect example of microagression

Sorry you had to go through that

LRavenscroft

If people are not happy with he or she, then why not just use they? When I did my OU course 25 years ago they were asking us to use 'they' then so as not to cause offense.

I did half a dozen OU courses at around the same time, and don’t recall anything of the sort. And I’m sure I’d remember. Maybe it depended to some extent on what courses you were doing - mine were mostly Classical studies and English Lit. I can imagine that any social science courses might have been different.

My late MIL was 101 when she died, she was a kind, well mannered person and would never knowingly say or do anything that would make another person uncomfortable. However, she did struggle with using the correct current language in certain situations and it was good to see her grandchildren, who are very quick to react to other members of our extended family who have not kept up to date (so to speak), not jumping to correct her. MIL did voluntary work pretty much all her life only stopping her "meals on wheels" round when she realised she was older than any of her clients. I sometimes wonder how "inclusive" we really are and how effective equal opportunity type training really is. I was heavily involved in "multicultural education training" in the late 80s/90's. I actually shudder when I think about it, it was actually not only totally useless I think it was actually detrimental in many respects but I knew no better!

Well said, Dickens. In my own case, I have a Daughter who is very happily married to a husband of West African origin, 2 gorgeous mixed race Grandchildren, plus a nephew with cerebral palsy, a cousin who is high on the Autism spectrum, and an openly gay and very happily married neighbour, who is also a dear friend, and has been for many years. I don't find this at all unusual, and suspect that many out there have a similar social mix amongst family and friends. I don't feel the need for some outside agency to tell me about the importance of Equality and Inclusivity. It's already a reality which is at the forefront of my daily life. I suspect that this also applies to many others. Real life is by far the best learning environment.

NanaDana

Franbern

I do not understand the objection to attending a training course which may or may not be interesting and useful. We should all be open to learning and advancing our knowledge.

Sadly, it is those who think they know it all -(in any subject) who are usually incorrect.

Having someone on the team who has a disability, and/or with a different skin colour may make the team diverse, but does not mean that team members really understand a lot about diversity.

Take pride in being open to newer knowledge and ideas and keep on learning.

No, I most certainly do not "know it all", Franbern... but then again, neither do you... It's quite simply a matter of different opinions, so no actual need for patronising put-downs.. Social skills? We should all most definitely keep on learning..

Having someone on the team who has a disability, and/or with a different skin colour may make the team diverse, but does not mean that team members really understand a lot about diversity.

And no amount of training will inspire anyone who doesn't have either the compassion to recognise that a disability is life-altering, nor the wit to understand that sympathising with someone who experiences prejudice because of their skin colour, cannot match the actual experience of those who suffer it.

If you treat every human being with dignity and respect and acknowledge their differences from our own as being of equal importance, then you will not hurt anyone.

I volunteer for a major organisation being commissioned by our LA and in turn by the Government, we all have to do the Equality and Inclusiveness course

Only a couple of days someone asked me "when are you going back home?" I hesitated as I am from another country, which few know, not an ethnic one, I am just very suntanned!!

Cambia

And this is why I won’t support the big charities!! Money that should go the people that need it gets spent on ridiculous training courses etc.
I now only support local charities where no one is paid and they are literally there to help others and not themselves!

It's not just big charities though - the one I worked for was a very local organisation supporting families in my local area, but we still had to do this to meet certain funding criteria.

aggie

I always think of ‘ they ‘ as plural , as I was taught, it isn’t that easy .
Anyway I would use a persons name most of the time ,
It’s easier to say

Exactly. It goes against correct grammar and I find it very difficult. I have no problem with anybody not wishing to be assigned male or female pronouns but I do wish they had chosen one that is clearly wrong.

And this is why I won’t support the big charities!! Money that should go the people that need it gets spent on ridiculous training courses etc.
I now only support local charities where no one is paid and they are literally there to help others and not themselves!

I always think of ‘ they ‘ as plural , as I was taught, it isn’t that easy .
Anyway I would use a persons name most of the time ,
It’s easier to say

If people are not happy with he or she, then why not just use they? When I did my OU course 25 years ago they were asking us to use 'they' then so as not to cause offense.

My view on gender has nothing to do with this

If I volunteer, I look for associations that match my values - clearly it is not he case here

Many times, charities in the US get a lot of things and events discounted or for free - not sure if it is the case in the UK

Theexwife

If someone sued the company for discrimination of any sort the company can prove their employees, paid and voluntary, have been on a training course therefore it would be down to the person/people involved and not the company.

This, exactly. I worked for a charity and this was what was explained to us in great detail. It was also the case that, when applying for certain grant funding, we had to show evidence that all staff and volunteers had undergone similar training in order to meet the grant criteria.

Franbern

I do not understand the objection to attending a training course which may or may not be interesting and useful. We should all be open to learning and advancing our knowledge.

Sadly, it is those who think they know it all -(in any subject) who are usually incorrect.

Having someone on the team who has a disability, and/or with a different skin colour may make the team diverse, but does not mean that team members really understand a lot about diversity.

Take pride in being open to newer knowledge and ideas and keep on learning.

No, I most certainly do not "know it all", Franbern... but then again, neither do you... It's quite simply a matter of different opinions, so no actual need for patronising put-downs.. Social skills? We should all most definitely keep on learning..

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.

I do not understand the objection to attending a training course which may or may not be interesting and useful. We should all be open to learning and advancing our knowledge.

Sadly, it is those who think they know it all -(in any subject) who are usually incorrect.

Having someone on the team who has a disability, and/or with a different skin colour may make the team diverse, but does not mean that team members really understand a lot about diversity.

Take pride in being open to newer knowledge and ideas and keep on learning.

At the risk of using a rather hackneyed phrase, "haven't they got something more useful to spend their money on?" As regards the concept of actually needing to be trained in "Equality and Inclusivity", I would find that personally insulting, as I would argue that the vast majority of us naturally develop such awareness as we reach adulthood, and hone our social skills accordingly. Yes, some don't, and those few may need some corrective input, but to wield the expensive broad brush and to routinely apply such so-called training to everyone seems both unnecessary and wasteful of precious charity funds. Total overkill IMHO.

If someone sued the company for discrimination of any sort the company can prove their employees, paid and voluntary, have been on a training course therefore it would be down to the person/people involved and not the company.

Op

You are not a good fit for this charity, please look for another.

It should be sufficient Dickens.

"Unconscious bias is always there, even in the people drawing up these courses and in the course itself" good point M0nica and very obvious with Stonewall. It's not a bad thing to be contrary in this day and age; wokewash love it.

‘Do as you would be done by’ comes to mind, but also ‘Think as you would be thought of.’

If you treat all fellow human beings as human beings, regardless of status, abilities, sex, gender, ethnicity or age, and deal them the same respect and allow them the same dignity you'd hope to be dealt yourself... isn't that sufficient?

I’d volunteer elsewhere if it were me. Volunteers are very precious. Sometimes the big organisations spend more money on this sort of stuff than on assisting their clients and looking after their volunteers on an individual basis. They can become very patronising.

That would annoy the hell out of me!

I could hardly bare that ‘training’ nonsense when I was at work and being paid to do it.
As a volunteer, it would take wild horses to drag me there

M0nica

Unconscious bias is always there, even in the people drawing up these courses and in the course content itself.

I would be tempted to ask them about how these unconscious biasses have been eliminated from their courses, not to mention the conscious biasses, but I am one of natures contrarians and frankly these courses are a lot of cant and wokewash.

wokewash

... I'm stealing that for future use!