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The psychological impact of one story for all has been very simply highlighted in the following story by Chimamnda Adichie
I watched with interest an interview involving the UK famous Black comedian Lenny Henry the other week. This involved his calls for UK law to boost low numbers of black people in TV industry. He used the terminology BAME during his interview.
This inspired me to write my first blog on a subject which is very personal to me.
Throughout my professional career a large part of reports, media and other tools have involved using the terminology BME and more recently BAME a la Lenny Henry as highlighted in the above clip.My personal reflections have told me that the usage of such acronyms used to shorten and collectively place a whole group of people with different hues under one umbrella to determine one experience in many cases can have a possible negative impact. Certainly it has for one who has been determined as a member of the BME/BAME community over the years with my own story.
LGB&TQ
I could argue that a similar thought process may be had by my colleagues who have been collectively identified over the years through various media, studies and research as LGB&TQ. This has become apparent through my recent research studies and interviews with members of this community during my critical analysis and research of the Trans experience when accessing healthcare within the NHS. The link below from the Guardian discusses a matter relating to an experiences within this community.http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/04/gay-not-thrilled-about-gay-marriage
What Impact?
These terms have been embedded into the fabric of social policy in the UK and beyond and are now common parlance. For me the impact of being lumped into one group has been a feeling of further marginalisation and a generalisation of my own personal experience. We are all unique with our own stories. For many who have taken part in my organisational/leadership development over the years, many have found the use of such terminology difficult concept to grasp. How is it that the many media forms, studies or organizational development haven’t adopted a collective acronym which denotes the white heterosexual male/female experience? (WASP). Surely such a group of people have their own history and experiences and like minority groups should be grouped to reflect inclusivity and consistency in awareness raising and such like.
The psychological impact of one story for all has been very simply highlighted through y Chimamnda Adichie
This is my first blog. All comments welcome 🙂