My Experience With Diversity And Diversity

Interestingly enough, the main diversity-related obstacle I’ve faced in my life has been the categorization of diversity itself and the notion of being “enough” in these categories. I’m a person of color, and I’m a person of mixed race. My late father was English, and my mother is African American. It was always awkward growing up without my father, because I was a drastically different skin color from my mom as a very pale and white child. People often asked my mother ignorant questions like, “Is she yours? Are you watching her for someone else?”

When asked to describe the world I come from, I am immediately taken back to the amazing amalgam of religions, cultures, interests and unique life experiences that have molded me into the diligent, culturally conscious, and empathic person that I am today.

The United States today is a society struggling with its own diversity. There have been

Everyone has their own experience with diversity growing up. Some kids grow up in a very diverse neighborhood and school district, while others grow up in small farm towns where their closest neighbor is five miles away. It is always interesting to see how everyone is raised, their beliefs, and their personal experience to diversity. No matter how an individual is raised, as an educator we need to make sure everyone feels welcome in our classroom no matter what their background is.

In accordance with Forehand & Kotchick, (2016) cultural diversity is considered to be a condition where different social group and communities are present in one geographical region or in particular entity having different races, belief systems, behaviour, colour, perception, language, religion, ethnic background etc. Moreover, Lambert, (2016) emphasized that diversity management consideration by means of generating shared belief systems, respect for group’s beliefs, values, norms and evasion of biasness, stereotyping, racism, nationalism and other types of discriminatory aspects creates issues if not properly managed within a community or organization. Furthermore, considering Australia’s multi-culturism circumstances are associated with colonial connections, immigration based cultural diversity creation along with indigenous populace reflecting higher number of diversity elements through language, race, religion, norms, belief systems, living ways, and others (Santoro & Kennedy, 2016).

“The multicultural training movement has indeed contributed to a greater and much needed understanding of the differences among various racial, ethnic, and cultural groups (Speight, Myers, Cox and Highlen, 1991).” In looking at this statement counselors will need to expand their thinking outside of the Western European contexts. There is a difference between Western culture and other cultures. Sue & Sue, 2012 states “ each cultural/racial group may have its own distinct interpretation of reality and offer a different perspective on the nature of people, the origin of disorders, standards for judging normality and abnormality, and therapeutic approaches. (p. 45).” As we are brought together with more cultures it is imperative to understand the differences, which will enable counselors to become culturally competent.

Within my own family, there were different doctrines. My great-grandmother was Pentecostal, my grandmother is Baptist and my mother is Atheist. While everyone seemed to have different belief systems, I participated in them all. I had to learn to adapt to each religious institution. In one church I was allowed to wear pants and women could also be pastors; whereas, in another, women could only were full length dresses and were not allowed in the pulpit.

I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas; to be more specific, the lowest income suburb of Dallas, Texas. The elementary school that I went to was the school for the lower income families and we were so equally diversified, that there was no such thing as a minority. Price Elementary was the name and the teachers were wonderful. They could have chosen to work in a school in a nicer neighborhood but they wanted to be there for children that really needed them. Although the school was great, the neighborhood was a rough place to raise a family. My parents worked very hard to move our family to Colorado Springs and to give their children a better opportunity. Their hard work has paid off. My brothers and I are all on great paths to success.

According to my family and cultural values, I have learnt to respect and understand other cultures and their beliefs. I always try to increase my awareness of the various dimensions of diversity. I always try to examine my own cultural identity and how that identity affects my relationships with others. In my opinion it is really important to become more aware of my own attitudes, perceptions, and feelings about various aspects of diversity. As an educator I think it is really important to make a commitment to increase an understanding of diversity.

Once a young adult I moved to a more diverse community. The neighborhood consisted of quite a mixture of people. area contained the elderly, African Americans, Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, Native

This paper is going to cover my personal reflection of what diversity means to me. I will discuss the messages I learned as a child about various minorities and majorities, and how my views have changed since then. I will also describe a situation in which diversity directly influenced my life. This paper will also include reflections of the common read novel The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. I will detail how the main characters experienced diversity. I will give examples of how diversity changed their lives and which person I personally related to the most.

As an occupational therapist, healthcare worker, and an immigrant, I am a part of diverse communities. Living and working in diverse communities have not only helped me to become culturally competent but also grow personally and professionally.

When it comes to diversity of people, one will not learn to appreciate a different lifestyle without being educated. Diversity requires education, because it is very easy to place yourself in a bubble and not learn to coexist with all of the different varieties of people. Now that I have learned how diverse people are in more than terms of race or religion but experiences in life, I will be more open minded and considerate of others. Someone's physical appearance is not the same as someone's mentality, and it isn't fair to judge that person based on their appearance when you are almost always going to be wrong about that person and/or offend him/her. Knowing this information impacts my life in the way I use language and see the people around me. You don't know everyone's life story and you don't know what their emotional trigger is. If I have a comment or thought

Everyone has a story that makes them the person they are today. Wherever you are, there is diversity, different backgrounds to take into consideration. Diversity doesn’t necessarily mean division by color of skin but your upbringing, significant changes, and what you learned or taught. Not everything can be seen, some are felt that makes every person different.

We live in a society where people come from different countries, they belong to different cultural, religion, ethnic groups, and races. All these factors come together and contributes to differences that make us unique from each other. Hence, a multicultural country with huge diversity. This reflection journal will cover what “human race” is and what role it plays in ones’ personal life and in a nursing profession. Moreover, what bias, assumptions and judgements are, and how to avoid them. Lastly, what caring is and what role does it play in nursing.