Abi Collins – PhD Student
Our March EDI event was centred on ‘Managing Microaggressions’ and featured Amandeep Doll, the Director of England for the Royal College of Pharmacy and a registered pharmacist. Microaggressions are verbal, non-verbal, and environmental slights, snubs and insults that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative messages and behaviours that target someone based on a protected characteristic or belong to a marginalised group – whether intentional or intentional.
Amandeep began by explaining how building diversity (different identities allow for diversity in perspectives and opinions), inclusion (the thoughts and perspectives of all matter, including being proactive to make sure everyone’s included), and equity (consistently and constantly recognising and redistributing power) can help create a sense of belonging where everyone feels welcome, and innovation thrives through the integration of different views, beliefs, and values.
Amandeep encouraged us, as audience members, to consider the possible impacts and consequences of microaggressions. For example, the impact if people are not made to feel welcome they may feel the need to change how they act, such as women needing to ‘man up’ or somebody hiding their accent to try and be taken seriously. Authenticity was deemed as key to seeing the whole person for who they are and allowing them to be themselves and feel included. Amandeep advocated that having representation in the ‘decision-making rooms’ could ensure that policies reflect the people they affect and to improve diversity, inclusion, and equity moving forward.
Microaggressions can be difficult to deal with mentally if they’re not obvious and explicit, or they can be passed off as a joke or somebody ‘didn’t mean it like that’ making someone doubt themselves as to whether they’ve faced discriminatory behaviour. They can lead to disengagement, loss of rapport, and left unchallenged an organisation may then make decisions based on bias which can contribute to poor culture and bad pharmacy practice. Considering our own unconscious (and conscious) biases was championed, along with a message of aiming to ‘meet people and patients where they’re at’ to help them get the care they need at that time.
Amandeep also shared examples of microaggressions regarding gender – for instance, she discussed how stereotypical assumptions around primary caregivers being female should be tackled, as well as offering lived-experience examples of female colleagues being told to ‘calm down, you’re being too emotional’. For age, examples of microaggressions included being dismissed for ‘not having enough experience’ (even when you do), being spoken to in a way which indicates you don’t understand something because you’re older, or ‘they haven’t been qualified very long, what did they do to get that job then?’.
Disability was highlighted as the biggest barrier to working in Pharmacy in a recent Royal College of Pharmacy survey, and people often did not want to disclose their disability status due to concerns about whether they would receive appropriate support and worries over peoples’ perceptions of only seeing a disability not them as a whole person. The example of someone saying ‘you don’t look disabled, you look so normal!’ was shared.
In the recent survey, over a third of LGBTQIA+ staff reported hiding their identity at work and one in five LGBTQIA+ people had not disclosed this to a healthcare professional for fear of discrimination. Examples of microaggressions around assuming a person’s gender or pronouns, gossiping or debating someone’s sexuality behind their back based on how they look, or hearing ‘it’s such a waste that you’re not straight’ had been reported in the survey.
Amandeep also reminded us that discrimination against race is racism, including through microaggressions – with an example being whether someone was subject to more criticism compared to their white counterparts, or making assumptions that the white person is the most senior in the room. It could sound like ‘where are you from? No, where are you really from’ or ‘your name is hard to pronounce, can we change it to ___?’
To finish, Amandeep encouraged attendees to consider when and how we could take action to tackle microaggressions. She offered suggestions around: 1) Recognising microaggressions – some more easy to spot than others. 2) Deciding on an action – consider the implications, check in with the person affected to see what they’re comfortable with and consider the impact of silence. And 3) making a conscious effort to be microaffirmative – by learning colleagues names and how to pronounce them, showing an interest in their thoughts and opinions, showing appreciation for colleagues’ talents and successes as well as validating their experiences. Amandeep encouraged us become aware of our own biases and confront them, be an ally, and (if comfortable) feel empowered to be an active bystander.
This was a fantastic session to share with staff and students in the Newcastle School of Pharmacy and the NIHR Newcastle PSRC, as well as others from across the wider Newcastle University organisation and local NHS trusts. The event gave us all a lot to take forward into our future work to advocate for making our places, spaces and work much more inclusive and welcoming. Thank you, Amandeep, for a brilliant session!
Pictured left to right – Dr Anna Robinson-Barella, Amandeep Doll, Dr Matt Cooper
