This post talks about ways to make your writing more inclusive, e.g. emails, blog posts, publications, tweets etc.
As part of my role on the Early Career Research committee for ACE I will be writing a series of blog posts about various topics on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in academia. I plan to try to write these posts in an actionable way so hopefully you as the reader can make changes in your work/life to be more inclusive.
The tips given here are applicable to literally anything and everything you write, e.g. emails, publications, blog posts, tweets etc.
Tip 1. Use an ‘easy to read’ font, curly or calligraphy style fonts can be hard for some people to read.
Tip 2. When writing hashtags ensure you capitalise the first letter of each word, for example #AwesomeBlogPost. This enables the hashtags to be read by screen readers making the post accessible to people with sight disabilities.
Tip 3. Related to tip two, you should add a description of any pictures you include in your writing. Again, this is so people with sight disabilities can know what the picture is showing.
Tip 4. If using videos be sure to add captions, this ensures people with hearing disabilities can access the content.
Tip 5. If images/videos in your writing include people, be aware of who you are representing and who you are excluding. For example, if a picture of scientists shows only older white men this can indicate that only these specific people can be scientists.
Tip 6. Use ‘people first language’ this means not defining someone by a given trait. For example, rather than writing a ‘disabled person’ you should write a ‘person with a disability’. This tip is not always applicable, see tip 7.
Tip 7. If your writing is aimed at a particular group of people, you should always ask these people how they want to be represented. For example, if someone identifies as autistic rather than as a person with autism you should refer to them as autistic. It sounds simple but you would be surprised how often this sort of thing is ignored.
Tip 8. Related to tip six be careful not to imply people are victims, e.g. ‘this person needs a screen reader’ should be ‘this person uses a screen reader’.
Tip 9. Do not include racist language. Additionally, you should be specific when you are refereeing to cultural groups. For example, Black women should be referred to as such rather than generalising them to ‘people of colour’.
Tip 10. Cultural groups represent a specific identity and as such they should be capitalised as nouns, for example ‘Black people’ and ‘Deaf people’.
Tip 11. Don’t use androcentric language. This is where there is an assumption of maleness. For example, chairman or policeman.
Tip 12. Never refer to a particular group of people as ‘normal’. For example, ‘people with a disability and normal people’ should be ‘people with a disability and people without a disability’.
Tip 13. Watch out for colloquialisms. The use of colloquialisms can create an ‘in’ group of people who understand the meaning and therefore also an ‘outgroup’ of people who do not. E.g. ‘that was a piece of cake!’.
Tip 14. If using your name (especially in email signatures) you should include your pronouns. This not only allows people to know how to refer to you but also signals to people in the LGBTQ+ community that you are aware that gender is much more complex than cis-females and cis-males and that they are safe being themselves around you.
It’s worth noting that language changes and so this post may be out of date in even a couple of years. Therefore, the key take home message is to be mindful of what you write and how you write it – ensuring you change your writing as our society changes. You should also take any opportunity to get feedback on your writing especially if it involves people from specific cultures or identities.
Finally, there are loads of resources online about inclusive writing but to highlight just one I would recommend checking out this excellent recording of a workshop on inclusive writing by Elan Justice Pavlinich that goes into more detail on many of the tips given above.