Category Archives: Allyship

University of Reading celebrates IDAHOBIT 2023

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people stand under the flagpole at the University of Reading cheering in celebration of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). On 17 May 2023, we raised the rainbow flag to mark IDAHOBIT2023. 
The ceremony was led by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Parveen Yaqoob, with speeches by our Welfare Officer Poppy Lindsey and LGBT+ Staff Network Co-Chair Dr Ruvi Ziegler (see image below, three speakers from right to left). Ruvi’s speech is enclosed.
Diversity and Inclusion Advisor and IDAHOBIT speakers arranged in a line. From left to right: Ceara Webster, Ruvi Ziegler, Poppy Lindsey, and Parveen Yaqoob
 
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For 18 years, 17 May has been observed around the globe as the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. It marks the date when, in 1990, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Its key purpose is to draw the attention of decision makers, the media, and the public to the risks and challenges faced by LGBT+ people and by others who do not conform to majority sexual and gender norms.   

In many corners of the world, including countries in the Commonwealth with a colonial legacy, hostility towards our community is rampant. 70 countries, and nearly a third of the world’s population, still criminalise consensual adult same-sex male sexual acts, with 11 countries where the death penalty may be imposed.  

Whereas many places have seen advancement of protection and rights, the trajectory is also by no means one directional. To give one contemporary illustration, in Uganda, a draconian ‘Anti-Homosexuality Bill’, which only two out of 389 MPs voted against, is awaiting President Museveni’s signature before coming into force.  

The Bill imposes life-imprisonment sentences for gay sex, up to 14 years for “attempted” homosexuality, and 20 years in jail for “recruitment, promotion and funding” of same-sex “activities”. There are some aggravated conditions such as being HIV positive which carry the death penalty. The bill’s proposers outline its four objectives: 

  • prohibit same-sex sexual relations 
  • strengthen Uganda’s capacity to deal with domestic and foreign threats to the heterosexual family 
  • safeguard traditional and cultural values  
  • protect youth/children against gay and lesbian practice     

If this bill becomes law, it may make Uganda the worst place for LGBT+ persons globally and force many to flee their country. Unfortunately, if they arrive at our shores, the government’s new ‘illegal migration bill’ has in stock for them detention and removal to neighbouring Rwanda – not protection. 

Indeed, the trajectory in this country regarding protection of LGBT plus people is rather worrying, too: six years after a consultation was published on reforming the GRA to improve the situation of trans people, a culture war is raging in which transphobia is commonplace.  

The consequences, a significant rise in hate crimes against LGBT plus people generally, and trans persons in particular, could have been foreseen.   

‘I am deeply concerned about increased bias-motivated incidents of harassment, threats, and violence against LGBT people, including a rampant surge in hate crimes in the UK”.  

These are not my words, but those of Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the UN Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity on the conclusion of his country visit earlier this month. He cautions that this could endanger very significant achievements, built over decades, to address violence and discrimination in the country’  

So, the battle for recognition and protection is far from won. 
 
But even as we recoil from abhorrent policies and practices, we must remain determined to make true MLK’s famous statement, that ‘the art of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice’.
The BIPOC LGBT pride flag flies after being raised to close the IDAHOBIT flag raising ceremony for 2023.
We thank all those who attended; we are grateful to be able to celebrate this day together, in solidarity.

Digital Accessibility – Learning from People with Lived Experience

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In a campaign running this May, colleagues at the University are being encouraged to take another look at online content they produce to ensure it does not exclude those with certain accessibility needs. 

The Look Again campaign, led by the DTS and Staff and Engagement teams, is providing tips on creating content that works for everyone in order for the University to fulfil its diversity and inclusive commitments. This includes supporting the Disability and Neurodiversity Review recommendations. 

Is your content accessible? get tips at rdg.ac/digi-access and rdg.ac/lookagain" in the digital accessibility area https://www.reading.ac.uk/digital-accessibility/digital-accessibility-section

 

In this blog, colleagues and students share their first-hand accounts of just how much of a difference it makes when content is designed with all users in mind. Some individuals have chosen to submit their experiences anonymously. 

For advice on how to create accessible content visit the Digital Accessibility resources webpages. 

Mathew Haine, Student Outcomes Manager in the Student Success and Engagement team: 

“I have a colour vision deficiency called deuteranopia which affects my ability to distinguish between reds, greens, and yellows. This type of colour blindness is common in men (1 in 12) and rare among women (1 in 200). There are many types of colour vision deficiency which affects colour-blind people in different ways.  

“You never know for certain whether you are perceiving colours differently to the people around you – how could you? – until some aspect daily life suddenly becomes impossible. It could be confusion about whether a piece of meat is cooked, struggling to follow a sporting event when the jerseys look identical or thinking a restroom is occupied when it isn’t. 

“Colour blindness can be inconvenient in the workplace particularly when it comes to visualising data. Most problems parsing spreadsheets, tables, charts, and graphs comes from the ubiquitous ‘traffic light’ indicators of red, yellow, and green. The simplest solution is to double up with other visual cues, like symbology or text. Try printing out your report in greyscale. If it works without the colour, the chances are that everyone can understand the information being presented.

“The recent work on digital accessibility at Reading has made me realise that, actually, I deserve to be able to read reports like this. Colour accessibility might be a mild inconvenience, but everyone deserves to participate equally, and collective action will go a long way. 

“Taking a few extra moments to ensure others feel valued and included in whatever you are doing will improve working life for everyone.” 

Anonymous member of staff in the Creative & Print Studio team, Marketing Communications and Engagement: 

“Sat in a physics class with 30 people staring at me while I struggled to read a number on a card wasn’t how I would have chosen to find out I was colour blind but it did explain a lot. I’d frequently mix up colours, on one occasion resulting in a concerning drawing of what I thought was a happy brown bear, that to others looked to be quite badly wounded. 

“Surprisingly as an adult I have a creative job and colour is a fundamental part of that. Rather than hinder what I do, I find my colour blindness helps me to work empathically; I perceive colour differently to the majority of people, so how do I create something that not only looks good for myself but everyone else as well, no matter how they perceive colour. 

“Creating accessible content is all about empathy. We need to consider how everyone will experience what we share online and make that experience as positive as possible. 

“Incorporating accessibility into what we do prevents anyone from being excluded from information and helps to create an inclusive community for the University, even online.” 

Anonymous third-year Philosophy student: 

“I have moderate-severe hearing loss which means I rely heavily on lipreading or wearing painful hearing aids to hear sounds around me. 

“Hearing loss means that I feel incredibly isolated when a conversation is occurring but I cannot see people’s faces to read their lips. Or if a video is playing without subtitles, or if the sound is too low. 

“I remember one time a video was shared in class, and everyone was saying ‘this is so helpful’ and ‘interesting’ and ‘beneficial to the exam’, but because there was no text alternative it was almost impossible to be included. It’s the same for social media. If a video doesn’t have captions I instantly swipe past because it’s too lonely trying to figure out what’s happening.  

“Also, writing down all the notes discussed on a board, and ensuring all the key material is published on the slides prior to the session so the hard of hearing person can review the topics and understand the structure of the lesson; this is so if they get lost during a seminar/lecture conversation, they can guide their focus back to what they’ve revised already, and fill in the gaps to figure out what the conversation is about. 

“Little differences such as these help a huge amount. I want to stress that these extra measures benefit everyone, not just the hard of hearing person. It is incredibly important to be mindful and inclusive of the hard of hearing/deaf community because nobody’s hearing is perfect. We all struggle now and again with hearing things, so these systems in place are very beneficial for everybody.” 

Lucy Coombs, a first-year Medical Science student: 

“I am neurodiverse, meaning my brain processes information differently to most people. As such, I might need resources to be adapted for me. 

“For example, a document I read had words capitalised, larger, italicised, and bold at random. This was confusing to follow and a more homogenous format would allow for uninterrupted reading. 

“Large blocks of text can cause my mind to wander; shorter paragraphs are likely to increase my engagement.” 

Digital accessibility in my daily life  

“As a neurodivergent student, I can struggle with day-to-day online activities. A time I struggled recently was going onto my favourite online game and the structure and colours had completely changed. Whilst this may seem like a minor, or even a beneficial thing, the sudden change in format in something that brought me comfort unsettled me. I find that I take longer to adapt to new environments than my neurotypical peers, and this includes online.”  

Digital accessibility while I’m studying  

“When studying, I can have issues processing due to my neurodivergence. Overcrowded screens where I am forced to take in too much information at once may mean I shutdown and go into overload. I find it helpful to be able to take in content at my own pace and in multiple ways, for example videos with subtitles mean I can process auditorily and visually, increasing the likelihood the information will go in.” 

Allyship during LGBT+ History Month

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Inspiring LGBT+ allyship amongst staff is one of the key aims of the LGBT Plus Staff Network; it is also amongst the Network’s most popular initiatives. An ally is a person who doesn’t identify as LGBT+ but believes that lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people – and others who don’t fit the majority experience of gender and sexuality – should have complete equality and equity of opportunity. (We want to point out that an ally can also be someone who is already in the LGBT+ community but wants to be an ally to people from other/all parts of the LGBT+ spectrum—allies are a broad collective!) Allyship can help to create a safe and supportive environment where LGBT+ staff and students feel valued and included.  

The training 

With all of this in mind, LGBT+ History Month was the perfect opportunity to expand the reach and ally membership of the LGBT Plus Staff Network (these members of the networks are known “LGBT Plus Allies” and are invited to partake in the Network’s regular activities). So, in the last week of February, we ran two online workshops aimed at introducing allyship and talking through some ways staff can become effective allies for LGBT+ colleagues at the University of Reading. The workshops were one-hour in length, were discussion-based and explored the following topics: 

  • What is an LGBT+ ally  
  • The case for LGBT+ allyship at Reading and in the United Kingdom 
  • Strategies for how you can be an effective ally 
  • How to get involved in events, activities and projects to promote diversity and inclusion at Reading 

The sessions were advertised to staff who are new to LGBT+ allyship or are interested in beginning their allyship journey. We had around 20 attendees over the two workshops.  

During the workshops, participants contribute to three activities. The first two are aimed at stimulating thoughts around what an ally is and what that means to people and the second asks what allies should actively do. Below you can see some of the words that were produced in the word clouds in response to the activities: 

This image has the question 'What is an ally?' at the top and below it are words that workshop participants submitted via Menti, a polling software. The larger the words appear, the more they have been submitted by people. The biggest words in response to the question, "What is an ally?" include: understanding, supporting, and advocate.

Image 1: The result of a Mentimeter poll in response to the question, “What is an ally?” asked during the Introduction to LGBT+ Allyship workshop. 

The larger the words appear on a word cloud correspond to how many times they were submitted. So, a larger word would have been submitted multiple times by different respondents. The most popular responses to the question “What is an ally?” in one of the sessions were: understanding, supportive, and advocate. Friendship was also a popular response, as was the sentiment of being non-judgemental. 

The second question asked, “What does an ally do?” and people were encouraged to think of which activities allies might do to support LGBT+ people: 

This image has the question 'What does an ally do?' at the top and below it are a collection of words that workshop participants submitted via Menti, a polling software. The larger the words appear, the more they have been submitted by people. The biggest words in response to the question, "What does an ally do?" include: question and educate.

Image 2: The result of a Mentimeter poll in response to the question, “What does an ally do?” asked during the Introduction to LGBT+ Allyship workshop. 

The most common things that people felt allies do were to: question, educate, and support. There was also an active element to allyship evident in respondents’ answers around being active in creating a safe environment for LGBT+ people and calling out negative behaviour. 

The session then went on to explore key issues faced by LGBT+ people in the workplace and how this could impact their mental health to stress the imperative of why we talk about LGBT+ allyship at work. Then, participants are introduced to a method of challenging inappropriate behaviour or language towards LGBT+ people and provided with resources to take their allyship forward. 

Reflections from Participants

“I thought the training was very good – for me, I’ve always considered myself an LGBT ally, but I had never joined the LGBT Teams site. I want to support my colleagues but was worried if I joined the site I would somehow be invading a ‘safe space’ for them that hadn’t been set up with me in mind. However, following the training I have joined the LGBT Teams site so that I can find out more about events/issues etc and am glad that you [Ceara] and Michael made it clear that the site was open to allies as well as LGBT staff.” 

  • Tasha Easton, Governance Office  

“Thank you to Ceara and Michael for an engaging and informative session! The training provided lots of practical advice on how to be an LGBT+ ally, both at work and outside of it.  I recommend this session to all staff at the University, as everybody can benefit from learning about the ways they can contribute towards creating a safe and inclusive space for everyone.”

  • Phoebe Homer, Student Communications

Reflections from the Diversity and Inclusion Advisor 

Being new to the University of Reading, delivering these sessions for me was a really good way to see how confident people who self-select into these trainings feel about their ability to be effective allies. The threats that LGBTQIA+ people face in the workplace are real and for me makes it fundamental to pursue active allyship where I can which, in my case, means being able to co-deliver these workshop sessions with the Lead Ally, Michael Kilmister. 

I am so grateful to those who came and participated in these allyship workshops through your reflections and contributions. As with most workshops of this kind, it is usually people who are already interested in the challenges LGBTQIA+ people face that attend. My focus for future workshops will be encouraging those who are less familiar with the struggles of LGBTQIA+ people and the impacts of these struggles at work to come along to the sessions. Hopefully, this can be one way of embedding the knowledge of LGBTQIA+ people’s challenges and the approaches of effective allyship for inclusion and justice more comprehensively across the University. 

Reflections from the Lead Ally 

This is not the first allyship session I have had the pleasure of facilitating, but these latest sessions incorporated a few key changes that moved the focus from information to discussion and action. The word cloud activities provided a low risk barrier for people to get involved in the session and begin to orientate themselves with key allyship concepts and activities. It was also reassuring for participants, reaffirming they were already carrying out allyship in their contexts; they just did not necessarily know it! The final activity we asked participants to engage in – setting a goal for the next 12 months – hopefully gave participants a sense of purpose. We suggested this could be highlighting they are an LGBT+ ally in their email signature or attending and volunteering at events. For me, performing allyship values – i.e., actively engaging in the task of making our contexts and communities inclusive environments where diversity and difference are celebrated – is at the core of allyship. (For the record, my nominated goal was writing for #DiverseReading; a goal I’ve met with this blog post!) 

Where to next? 

Are you hoping to become a better ally? One of our attendees and colleagues, Phoebe Homer from Student Communications, has written a fantastic blog post on how to be an LGBT+ ally, covering terminology and what to do if you make a mistake, what you can do to become an ally, and resource for support for LGBTQIA+ people at the University. 

If you would like to join the LGBT+ Staff Network as an Ally or would like to request a workshop for your area, please contact Lead Ally Michael Kilmister or Ruvi Ziegler, LGBT+ Staff Network Chair.