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6 | Using Inclusive Language in the Clinic
Using Inclusive Language in the Clinic
As a clinician, you're probably used to speaking or writing in a particular way. It's helpful to evaluate your language periodically to make sure you're choosing words and phrases that create a welcoming and inclusive environment. While I know most of us have good intentions, we also have a lot of room for improvement (and I include myself here!).
Here are a few things to consider in your written language:- List your pronouns on your website, in your bio, and in other marketing/promotional materials
- Leave blanks for clients to indicate sex and gender on your forms, rather than providing binary choices
- Ask clients which pronouns they use on your intake form or at the beginning of your visit
- In the "Family History" section of your intake forms, ask clients to list family members and relevant illnesses or conditions rather than specifying "mother" "father" etc.
- Use parent(s) or guardian(s) rather than mother/father; do not assume parents are married
- Use partner/spouse rather than husband/wife; do not assume people have only one partner or spouse
- Check your intake forms for questions about reproductive organs; ask the same questions to all clients. Put a "not applicable" box for people to check if relevant.
- "Died from suicide" rather than "committed suicide"
- "Person with diabetes" rather than "diabetic" (same applies for other conditions: alcoholic, etc.)
- "Older adults" rather than "elderly"
- "Under-resourced" rather than "inner city"
- "Neighborhood with high poverty rates" rather than "disadvantaged"
- "They" rather than "he/she" if gender unknown
- "Hey y'all" or "Hey folks" rather than "Hey guys" (or, à la the Sleep with Me podcast, “Ladies, gentlemen, and friends beyond the binary”)
- "Bananas" or "wild" rather than "crazy" or "insane"
- "Not cool" rather than "lame"
- "The public" rather than "citizens" or "Americans" [situational]
- "Different sex" rather than "opposite sex"
-
"Pregnant person" or "person who is nursing" rather than "pregnant mother" or "nursing mother”
- Northwestern University Counseling Inclusive Language Guide
- An Incomplete Guide to Inclusive Language for Startups and Tech from Buffer
- 18F Inclusive Language Content Guide
- Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Treatment Planning
- Focus on Forms and Policy: Creating an Inclusive Environment for LGBT Patients
- The Racist Origins of Seven Common Phrases
- Fat Phobia and Its Racist Past and Present episode of the ShortWave podcast (not specific to inclusive language, but speaks to BMI and how we view/talk about healthy weights - more on this later)
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Transcript
(00:00)
Well, hey, everybody, welcome to In the Clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman. I am a licensed nutritionist and clinical herbalist, and I also mentor newer practitioners. So today I want to talk about inclusive language. We've been discussing this a lot at the university where I work in the context of education. It's also something that's relevant for those of us who work clinically. I'd like to bring to light a few areas where I could see that a lot of clinicians have a little bit of room for improvement.
(00:38)
Many of you are already very, very good about using inclusive language, some of you've done a lot of conscious and thoughtful work around. But I know for a lot of us, it is an ongoing evolution where we're learning more. We're making small steps and we're trying to just do better and better as we go. So here are a few things that I see where a lot of people could take some relatively small steps and make their language a lot more inclusive.
(01:03)
So when I say language here, I'm talking both about written language, such as anything that you post online, on your website, or on blog posts, guest posts that you're doing for other people, in your marketing materials and that kind of thing, but also your spoken word. Anything that you are saying face-to-face to people, and/or videos that you're recording for social media or other uses.
(01:27)
So one of the easiest things that you can do to make your language more inclusive in the written form is to go to your website and look to see if anywhere on your website you've indicated your pronouns. So your bio is a great place to do this. If you have an About Me page, that's another great place where you can put your pronouns. If you have a little "about the author" section that appears at the end of your blog posts, or in guest posts that you send out to other people.
(01:54)
Just go ahead and stick your pronouns right in there. A lot of people think, oh, my pronouns are incredibly obvious. I don't really need to indicate them, but.
(02:05)
That isn't always the case. And when you show your pronouns, when you say your pronouns, you are indicating that you're aware that some people have pronouns that aren't instinctive, that you may not know everyone's pronouns right away, and you're giving people space and permission to share their pronouns with you. So you could check right now to see if you've got your pronouns listed. And if not, it's really, really easy to fix that. The other thing that you want to make sure is to go to your intake form.
(02:35)
There's a couple of places on your intake form that I want you to just have a have a look. Let's do a little checking to see if there's any improvements that could be made here. So let's start out with a question about sex. And when I say this, I'm talking about sex, as in male or female. Do you have any questions about sex on your intake form? And if so, do you have only two choices? If you do, you are excluding people who are intersex.
(03:06)
Right. So one thing you might want to do is, if you need to know somebody's sex, is to instead of giving people choices, just leave it blank and let people fill that in. You just want to ask yourself if you specifically need to know someone's sex, or if you want to know their gender. If you have questions about gender, I also want you to go and look at those and see if, again, if you've given people two choices or more and consider instead of having choices for people to select.
(03:36)
Just having a blank for them to fill in so they can write whatever gender they identify with. Lastly, check and see if you have a space for pronouns on your intake form. Ideally, we don't want to be asking preferred pronouns, but you might consider phrasing it such as "Which pronouns do you use?" And then again, leave it blank so that people can fill that in right away. A few other places to check on your intake form while we're there.
(04:07)
If you have any questions about family history, one thing to be aware of is that some people have more than one mother. Some people have more than one father. Some people's parents prefer not to identify with gendered terms and just go with the word "parent." So when you're looking at family history sections, instead of asking about mother and father, maternal grandfather, paternal grandfather, etc., one thing that you could do is just say family history and then leave it blank for them to fill in.
(04:38)
We have a section for a family member and let them specify which family member it is that they are speaking about. You also want to remember in your family history section that some people are adopted and may or may not know their family history. So be sure that you have acknowledged that in some way. Similarly, when you are asking questions about partnership, such as if people have a husband or wife, make sure that you have created space for people to indicate spouse, partner or any kind of other phrase, not just assuming that all people are married.
(05:17)
I'd also like for you to assess your intake form and see if there is, in the partnership section, if you are assuming that people have only one partner. There are many people out there who have more than one partner. And if your intake form really assumes that everybody is in a either in partnership or in a partnership with only one person, it can be very othering for some of these folks. Lastly, on your intake form. I know I said that before, but this really is the lastly.
(05:48)
I want you to look at any questions that pertain to "reproductive" organs. So anything about menstrual cycles or pregnancies or prostates or anything along those lines, if you are segmenting those by gender.
(06:02)
So, for example, if you're saying "if you're a male, answer these questions" or "if you're a female answer these questions," that can be problematic for people who are transgender or who are non binary, et cetera.
(06:16)
So instead of trying to kind of pigeonhole people based on their gender or their sex and giving them these questions about their different body parts, just give the same questions to everybody. And if you want, you can have a little button to click where a section that just says "not applicable" so that people can opt out of sections if they don't have those particular parts. All right. That's a work in progress for many people, but those are some things to think about.
(06:43)
Now, let's talk about our written language.
(06:47)
Again, this is not a completely all-inclusive list, but there are some really common phrases that I hear people using that can be problematic, especially when we are trying to indicate to our clients that we have a safe and welcoming space for them to be heard and respected.
(07:07)
So a few things that I want to bring to your attention, and I've got a written list of this on my website associated with this episode, if you would like to come back to these at a later time. But a few things to be aware of in your spoken language are number one - this is so, so, so common - is people saying, "hey, guys."
(07:25)
And that comes out of people's mouths just so easily. It's really hard one to change. But could you consider changing, to: "Hey, y'all." "Hey, folks." "Hey, everyone." "Everybody." Those types of things. One of my favorites is from the Sleep with Me podcast, where they say, "Ladies, Gentlemen and friends beyond the Binary." So I really love that. Consider changing your language, if you use "Hey, guys."
(07:47)
Especially at the start of a class or a workshop. Something along those lines. Some other things to think about in terms of your language are to say "older adults" rather than "the elderly." Instead of saying "inner city," you might consider saying "underresourced area." Instead of saying "disadvantaged," you consider saying "a neighborhood with high poverty rates." Instead of saying that something is "crazy" or "insane," you say, "oh, my gosh, this weather is just crazy" or "it's just crazy that they haven't gotten this done yet" or whatever it is that can be stigmatizing to people who have mental illness.
(08:27)
So instead of saying that, why don't you try saying, oh, "that's bananas," "that's wild." "I can't believe it." Those are some alternatives for that. I don't hear this as much in the clinical community, but some people are still saying it when you say something is "lame."
(08:43)
That is not really OK. So instead of saying that, why don't you try saying something is "not cool" or "not OK," try to try to find some other phrasing for that. Another one that's really come in is that rather than saying somebody "committed suicide," it is preferable to say that they "died from suicide" or they "died by suicide" or another type of language. That is not as stigmatizing. And then a few other little smaller ones, again, there are so many more that we could go through.
(09:18)
But instead of saying somebody of the "opposite sex," you can say someone of a "different sex." When you're talking about pregnancy, nursing, lactation and so forth, you can say a "pregnant person" or a "person who is nursing," "a person who is breastfeeding," "a person who is lactating" instead of a "pregnant mother" or "a nursing mother." Again, not assuming that everyone who is pregnant identifies as female. And then lastly, rather than saying somebody is "diabetic" or "she's a diabetic," you can say "a person with diabetes" or "she's been diagnosed with diabetes," something along those lines.
(09:57)
So those are just a few things to think about when it comes to being more inclusive in your language. If you have other things to add to this list, I would really love to know about them. Please feel free to put them in the comments. Send them to me via my website: www.camillefreeman.com. Or yeah, just let me know. Reach out. All right. I hope that was helpful. Like I said, I'll have some of these written out if you'd like to come back to them later.
(10:23)
Otherwise. Have a great week.
Well, hey, everybody, welcome to In the Clinic with Camille. My name is Camille Freeman. I am a licensed nutritionist and clinical herbalist, and I also mentor newer practitioners. So today I want to talk about inclusive language. We've been discussing this a lot at the university where I work in the context of education. It's also something that's relevant for those of us who work clinically. I'd like to bring to light a few areas where I could see that a lot of clinicians have a little bit of room for improvement.
(00:38)
Many of you are already very, very good about using inclusive language, some of you've done a lot of conscious and thoughtful work around. But I know for a lot of us, it is an ongoing evolution where we're learning more. We're making small steps and we're trying to just do better and better as we go. So here are a few things that I see where a lot of people could take some relatively small steps and make their language a lot more inclusive.
(01:03)
So when I say language here, I'm talking both about written language, such as anything that you post online, on your website, or on blog posts, guest posts that you're doing for other people, in your marketing materials and that kind of thing, but also your spoken word. Anything that you are saying face-to-face to people, and/or videos that you're recording for social media or other uses.
(01:27)
So one of the easiest things that you can do to make your language more inclusive in the written form is to go to your website and look to see if anywhere on your website you've indicated your pronouns. So your bio is a great place to do this. If you have an About Me page, that's another great place where you can put your pronouns. If you have a little "about the author" section that appears at the end of your blog posts, or in guest posts that you send out to other people.
(01:54)
Just go ahead and stick your pronouns right in there. A lot of people think, oh, my pronouns are incredibly obvious. I don't really need to indicate them, but.
(02:05)
That isn't always the case. And when you show your pronouns, when you say your pronouns, you are indicating that you're aware that some people have pronouns that aren't instinctive, that you may not know everyone's pronouns right away, and you're giving people space and permission to share their pronouns with you. So you could check right now to see if you've got your pronouns listed. And if not, it's really, really easy to fix that. The other thing that you want to make sure is to go to your intake form.
(02:35)
There's a couple of places on your intake form that I want you to just have a have a look. Let's do a little checking to see if there's any improvements that could be made here. So let's start out with a question about sex. And when I say this, I'm talking about sex, as in male or female. Do you have any questions about sex on your intake form? And if so, do you have only two choices? If you do, you are excluding people who are intersex.
(03:06)
Right. So one thing you might want to do is, if you need to know somebody's sex, is to instead of giving people choices, just leave it blank and let people fill that in. You just want to ask yourself if you specifically need to know someone's sex, or if you want to know their gender. If you have questions about gender, I also want you to go and look at those and see if, again, if you've given people two choices or more and consider instead of having choices for people to select.
(03:36)
Just having a blank for them to fill in so they can write whatever gender they identify with. Lastly, check and see if you have a space for pronouns on your intake form. Ideally, we don't want to be asking preferred pronouns, but you might consider phrasing it such as "Which pronouns do you use?" And then again, leave it blank so that people can fill that in right away. A few other places to check on your intake form while we're there.
(04:07)
If you have any questions about family history, one thing to be aware of is that some people have more than one mother. Some people have more than one father. Some people's parents prefer not to identify with gendered terms and just go with the word "parent." So when you're looking at family history sections, instead of asking about mother and father, maternal grandfather, paternal grandfather, etc., one thing that you could do is just say family history and then leave it blank for them to fill in.
(04:38)
We have a section for a family member and let them specify which family member it is that they are speaking about. You also want to remember in your family history section that some people are adopted and may or may not know their family history. So be sure that you have acknowledged that in some way. Similarly, when you are asking questions about partnership, such as if people have a husband or wife, make sure that you have created space for people to indicate spouse, partner or any kind of other phrase, not just assuming that all people are married.
(05:17)
I'd also like for you to assess your intake form and see if there is, in the partnership section, if you are assuming that people have only one partner. There are many people out there who have more than one partner. And if your intake form really assumes that everybody is in a either in partnership or in a partnership with only one person, it can be very othering for some of these folks. Lastly, on your intake form. I know I said that before, but this really is the lastly.
(05:48)
I want you to look at any questions that pertain to "reproductive" organs. So anything about menstrual cycles or pregnancies or prostates or anything along those lines, if you are segmenting those by gender.
(06:02)
So, for example, if you're saying "if you're a male, answer these questions" or "if you're a female answer these questions," that can be problematic for people who are transgender or who are non binary, et cetera.
(06:16)
So instead of trying to kind of pigeonhole people based on their gender or their sex and giving them these questions about their different body parts, just give the same questions to everybody. And if you want, you can have a little button to click where a section that just says "not applicable" so that people can opt out of sections if they don't have those particular parts. All right. That's a work in progress for many people, but those are some things to think about.
(06:43)
Now, let's talk about our written language.
(06:47)
Again, this is not a completely all-inclusive list, but there are some really common phrases that I hear people using that can be problematic, especially when we are trying to indicate to our clients that we have a safe and welcoming space for them to be heard and respected.
(07:07)
So a few things that I want to bring to your attention, and I've got a written list of this on my website associated with this episode, if you would like to come back to these at a later time. But a few things to be aware of in your spoken language are number one - this is so, so, so common - is people saying, "hey, guys."
(07:25)
And that comes out of people's mouths just so easily. It's really hard one to change. But could you consider changing, to: "Hey, y'all." "Hey, folks." "Hey, everyone." "Everybody." Those types of things. One of my favorites is from the Sleep with Me podcast, where they say, "Ladies, Gentlemen and friends beyond the Binary." So I really love that. Consider changing your language, if you use "Hey, guys."
(07:47)
Especially at the start of a class or a workshop. Something along those lines. Some other things to think about in terms of your language are to say "older adults" rather than "the elderly." Instead of saying "inner city," you might consider saying "underresourced area." Instead of saying "disadvantaged," you consider saying "a neighborhood with high poverty rates." Instead of saying that something is "crazy" or "insane," you say, "oh, my gosh, this weather is just crazy" or "it's just crazy that they haven't gotten this done yet" or whatever it is that can be stigmatizing to people who have mental illness.
(08:27)
So instead of saying that, why don't you try saying, oh, "that's bananas," "that's wild." "I can't believe it." Those are some alternatives for that. I don't hear this as much in the clinical community, but some people are still saying it when you say something is "lame."
(08:43)
That is not really OK. So instead of saying that, why don't you try saying something is "not cool" or "not OK," try to try to find some other phrasing for that. Another one that's really come in is that rather than saying somebody "committed suicide," it is preferable to say that they "died from suicide" or they "died by suicide" or another type of language. That is not as stigmatizing. And then a few other little smaller ones, again, there are so many more that we could go through.
(09:18)
But instead of saying somebody of the "opposite sex," you can say someone of a "different sex." When you're talking about pregnancy, nursing, lactation and so forth, you can say a "pregnant person" or a "person who is nursing," "a person who is breastfeeding," "a person who is lactating" instead of a "pregnant mother" or "a nursing mother." Again, not assuming that everyone who is pregnant identifies as female. And then lastly, rather than saying somebody is "diabetic" or "she's a diabetic," you can say "a person with diabetes" or "she's been diagnosed with diabetes," something along those lines.
(09:57)
So those are just a few things to think about when it comes to being more inclusive in your language. If you have other things to add to this list, I would really love to know about them. Please feel free to put them in the comments. Send them to me via my website: www.camillefreeman.com. Or yeah, just let me know. Reach out. All right. I hope that was helpful. Like I said, I'll have some of these written out if you'd like to come back to them later.
(10:23)
Otherwise. Have a great week.
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