John Launer: Recognising and celebrating identity

Racism in the NHS continues to be a problem, towards patients and also colleagues.1 Training courses in equality, diversity, and inclusion are mandatory everywhere, but the evidence that they make a difference is scant.2 They’re often carried out through online modules that are essentially tick box exercises. These are generally superficial, invite gaming so that people can rush through them, and do nothing to encourage the inner reflection and moral commitment that decent human interactions depend on.

Live events can be better, but there’s a tendency to emphasise what goes wrong—for example, the microaggressions and differential outcomes in job interviews experienced by women and ethnic minority applicants. Important as these issues are, I believe that these live events should actively cultivate respect and fairness across the boundaries of personal characteristics, not just teach us to look out for when these virtues are lacking.

Like many educators, I’ve been experimenting with alternative forms of training that instead place emphasis on the positives of diversity. I’ve been running sessions on the theme of “celebrating identity”: for example, getting resident doctors to write imaginary letters to their own doctor, setting out all the important non-medical information they might like them to know. Participants can choose what to include, ranging from their country of origin and family background to their accomplishments and interests. They can disclose what’s important to them but can also withhold information they’d rather keep private. They have an opportunity to interview each other in pairs (with consent and in confidence) about what they’ve written, and they can inquire into anything that aroused their curiosity, discovering how to discuss different facets of someone’s identity with tact and sensitivity.

Some outcomes have astonished the participants. In one recent group, for example, two medical residents—one from western Europe and the other from eastern Africa—discovered that they both spoke Hungarian, having each done medical training there. A young man from a farming family in Cumbria learnt how similar his upbringing was to that of a Kurdish woman whose parents also had a farm. (I’ve altered national details for confidentiality, but you get the gist.) Almost everyone reports finding out things they never knew about their peers, with a corresponding increase in mutual respect.

I’ve also introduced groups to the concept of “social graces”—the parameters whereby privileges are commonly assigned in society.3 These include not only gender and ethnicity but characteristics such as religion, class, education, and employment. I invite people to consider how they see themselves as being positioned socially in relation to each of these.

In other sessions we’ve spoken about each other’s family trees, exploring family structures, personal geographies, or other patterns.4 Such activities won’t change attitudes and behaviour overnight or on their own: this will depend on committed leadership as much as education. But it’s surely time to show people that training about diversity can broaden your mind, help you notice similarities as well as differences, and be fascinating and fun.