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DEI Toolkit

New York State Office of Cultural Education

Understanding DEI

Diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, antiracism, and justice (DEI) are complex and dynamic topics. They can be internalized, interpersonal, organizational, or structural. They are influenced by our own intersecting identities, as well as the intersecting identities of the people we live, work, and socialize with. The different ways we understand DEI can help us conceptualize broader definitions and approaches to our work as practitioners.

What is diversity?

When we talk about the “D” in DEI, we are really digging into who we are as practitioners in the field and who our patrons and/or visitors are. Diversity requires us to explore our many intersecting identities and determine what to highlight, what to obscure, and how we show up in community with each other.

Understanding diversity requires us to know what we mean when we use the word. In many contexts, we use the word “diversity” to mean non-white, non-male, non- cisgender, or varying in mental and physical abilities. Instead of defining diversity in ways that center and normalize whiteness, maleness, cis-ness, and body shape or ability, we encourage you to think about it as it truly exists in our world, as a difference or form of variety.

Whenever you are tempted to say, “we do not have diversity here,” we invite you instead to think about diversity in all of its many forms: physical, neurological and cognitive abilities, age, mobility, interest in specific topics, racial and ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientation and gender identities, educational background, language proficiencies, geographic location, and the many other forms of diversity found in your communities.

Each of our organizations is staffed by diverse groups of people. Our patrons, clients, and customers are diverse groups of people. We invite you to conceptualize a broader definition of diversity.

Internal, interpersonal, organizational, and structural DEI

Internal DEI involves investigating our private beliefs and biases about race and racism, ability, identity, and what is “right” or “proper.” Our internalized biases are influenced by our culture and take many different forms including: prejudice toward others; internalized oppression – the negative beliefs about oneself; or internalized privilege – beliefs about superiority or entitlement.

Interpersonal DEI involves evaluating the biases that arise when individuals interact with others and how their internalized beliefs affect their public interactions.

Organizational DEI involves confronting the unfair policies and discriminatory practices that produce inequitable outcomes for some people and advantages for others. Individuals within organizations take on the power of the organization when they reinforce or ignore inequities.

Structural DEI involves addressing the cumulative and compounding effects of an array of societal factors including the history, culture, ideology, and interactions of institutions, and policies that systematically privilege some people and disadvantage others.

Intersectionality

People hold many identities. Each identity comes with benefits or privileges, and also with barriers or obstacles.

The term “intersectionality” according to Kimberlé Crenshaw, is “a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other.”1 Intersectionality offers a lens through which to examine the multiple layers of inequality that affect an individual. Considering these compounding effects allows us to see and understand how experiences differ between people, even among a common group. Crenshaw addresses this in her scholarship of Blackness and womanhood, asserting the importance of understanding our lived experiences as intersectional. Audre Lorde added to this, writing, “Any attack against Black people is a lesbian and gay issue, because I and thousands of other Black women are part of the lesbian community. Any attack against lesbians and gays is a Black issue, because thousands of lesbians and gay men are Black. There is no hierarchy of oppression.”2

No one identity captures a person’s full experience. Each identity adds a lens through which a person experiences the world.

1 Steinmetz, K. (2020). She Coined the Term ‘Intersectionality’ Over 30 Years Ago. Here’s What It Means to Her Today. Retrieved from: https://time.com/5786710/kimberle-crenshaw-intersectionality/

2 Lorde, A. (1983). There is no hierarchy of oppressions. Retrieved from: https://uuliveoak.org/pdfs/worship_9-04-09_excerpts_no_hierarchy_of_oppressions.pdf

Reflection tool

Consider using this reflection tool as a way to process your thoughts, reactions, concerns, and ideas about conceptualizing a broad definition of diversity.

  • What do I mean when I say “diversity?”
  • What is my definition of diversity?
  • What experiences in my life have contributed to this definition?
  • What are my private beliefs and biases about race and racism, ability, identity, and what is “right” or “proper?” How have they developed over time?
  • In what ways do my biases show up in my interactions with others? How do my internalized beliefs affect my public interactions?
  • How have I taken on the power of my organization when it reinforces or ignores inequities?
  • How am I complicit in the cumulative and compounding effects of an array of societal factors that systematically privilege some people and disadvantage others? How have or do I repair the cumulative or compounding effects?
  • What are my intersecting identities? Is it easy or difficult for me to identify these intersections in myself and in other people? Why or why not?
  • How do my intersecting identities help me see the world and understand my own experiences?