EDI & Belonging Calendar

Meet Laura Wiltshire who is a committee member of the Women Inspired Network, who explains what LGBTQ+ is and shares her own personal story.

Celebrating LGBTQ+ February 2025

Meet Najma Timms who is a committee member of the Women Inspired Network, who explains what Hijab and world Hijab day is.

World Hijab Day

It is Sign Language week and we’d like to take the opportunity to promote awareness and inclusivity around Sign Language and support the Deaf community.

Did you know…

• Sign Language Week is celebrated each year in March to commemorate 18^th March 2003 when British Sign Language was officially acknowledged as a language by the UK Government
• Over 11 million people in the UK are Deaf and/or hard of hearing
• British Sign Language is the fourth most widely used indigenous language in the UK
• An estimated 151,000 individuals use British Sign Language as their primary method of communication yet many face daily barriers in terms of accessibility and inclusion   
• More than 80% of Deaf individuals feel excluded from mainstream services due to language barriers

SLW Facts

In addition, being Deaf can significantly impact mental health and wellbeing. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) reports that people who are Deaf and/or hard of hearing are twice as a likely to experience mental health problems compared to those without hearing loss. In addition, research by SignHealth found that 24% of Deaf people reported depression compared to 12% of the general population.

We can help to change this by breaking down barriers and stigma, raising awareness and learning British Sign Language!

Below you will see how you can play a role in celebrating  British Sign Language Week and setting you the challenge of learning some sign language yourself with some easy video tutorials.

 

Hands that Speak: Hearts that Listen: Day 1: your Sign Language Challenge

It’s Sign Language Week 2025 and throughout the week we invite you to learn some sign language! We challenge you to learn some new signs every day of this week and we’ll be sending you a reminder and a hint each day.

But before we do that, we’re going to help you to understand the correct language to use:

• "Deaf" (capitalised) – used by members of the Deaf community who identify culturally with Deafness and use sign language as their primary means of communication.
• "deaf" (lowercase) – generally a broader term referring to individuals with significant hearing loss (they may or may not identify with the Deaf community).
• "Hard of hearing" (HoH) – used to refer to individuals with mild to moderate hearing loss who may use hearing aids, cochlear implants, or lip-reading to assist with communication.
• "Deaf and hard of hearing" – is an inclusive phrase often used in official or general communication to encompass both groups.

Terms to avoid: “hearing impaired”

• "Hearing impaired" – may be considered out of date and negative as it as it frames hearing loss as a deficiency.
• "Deaf-mute" or "deaf and dumb" – These are offensive and incorrect, as many deaf people can speak and communicate effectively.

So now to our Day 1 challenge...

Learning some basic sign language can go a long way in helping a Deaf or hard of hearing person to feel understood and heard.

To start you off let’s learn the core basics. See the Basic Sign Language

• Hello: wave your hand in a small motion
• Thank you: put your fingertips on your chin and move your hand forward
• Please: put your hand on your chest and move it in a small circular motion
• Sorry: place your hand in a fist and move it in a small circular motion over your chest
• Goodbye: wave!

Commanding Hands on You Tube have some easily accessible and great videos to watch to learn the basics. Click here to watch their first video with some common greetings and phrases demonstrated. We’ll be pointing you to Watch the free video tutorial in the attached to get some more insights.

 

It’s Day 2 and today we’re going to learn to ask “What is your name?”

See the Commanding Hands video here for the instruction here which also includes lots of other greetings.

Did you know that when asking a question in British Sign Language it is really important to raise your eyebrows slightly? Facial expressions are super important with Sign Language in building connection and expression.

Tomorrow we will learn how to respond which is a tad trickier as it means learning the BSL alphabet in order to answer the question!

See the link for a reminder of the basics Basic Sign Language

 

It’s Day 3 of Sign Language Awareness Week and today we’re going to answer the question we asked yesterday and say what our name is.

Sign Language Alphabet

For this we’ll need to introduce you to the Sign Language alphabet so you can answer this question when asked. There’s a super helpful video here from Natasha Lamb which teaches you the alphabet and also the numbers.

For my name is:

• “My” – place a flat hand on your chest
• “Name” -

 

It’s Day 4 of Sign Language Awareness Week and today we’re going to learn how to ask “How are you…”

Again we will refer to our friends at Commanding Hands and point you to this fabulous video to give you a tutorial.  

It also teaches you how to respond with a variety of different responses good, great, so-so, tired etc.

Now you’ve learned some basics can you get together with one of your colleagues and have a practice?

 

It’s the final day of Sign Language Awareness Week and today we’re going to learn how to practice some basic manners.

Again we will refer to our friends at Commanding Hands and point you to this video tutorial.

Congratulations on learning some sign language! If you would like to continue we recommend you visit our resources attachment to continue your learning!

Here are some useful tips Useful resources

On Trans Day of Visibility, consider how you can support trans-people in your life, and those you may not know but who are a part of our South Yorkshire community.

Today is a day to celebrate trans people being visible, however, this is not always easy, and can involve a lot of risk for trans individuals.

One way that you can support trans people to not have to be hyper-visible in the workplace, is by putting your pronouns in your email signature.

How does this help?

• It means that trans staff, including non-binary staff, are not the only ones putting their pronouns in their signatures, making this more inclusive, and preventing people being forced to disclose that they are trans if they don’t feel comfortable doing so.
• It normalises letting people know your pronouns rather than sticking to the age-old guessing system.
• It prevents people misgendering people whose names are not anglophone names, many people who are not trans are also mis-gendered because people incorrectly guess their pronouns in emails. This adds an anti-racist and language-inclusive reason for including your pronouns in your email signature.

Something small, can make a big difference, why not add your pronouns to your email signature today!

Examples of common pronouns:

For men: He/him          For women: She/her         For non-binary people: They/them

For more information, check out: A beginner’s guide to pronouns and using pronouns in the… | Stonewall

Autism Acceptance Month to promote awareness and inclusion about Autism, mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Let’s promote Autism Acceptance Month to drive inclusion at work not only for autistic people but for all employees.

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Key Objectives

• Educate people around autism and what it is like to be autistic in the workplace
• Provide some understanding around how autism impacts mental health and wellbeing
• Introduce some activities and exercises to step in to the shoes of an autistic individual in the workplace to encourage empathy
• Encourage ideas around how to support our autistic colleagues

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Autism Acceptance Month Image

What is Autism Acceptance Month

Autism Acceptance Month is celebrated in April every year. We are aligning with the National Autistic Society to raise awareness around autism in the workplace and how you can play an active role in encouraging inclusion and belonging by supporting your autistic colleagues so we can all thrive at work.

We are framing our campaign around mental health and wellbeing. Here are some key statistics around autism:

• There are at least 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK (not the number of people with an actual diagnosis but those likely to have one – this figure is probably a lot higher!)
• Autism is understood as a spectrum where an individual has a unique combination of characteristics rather than existing on a “more” or “less” continuum
• Autism is not a learning disability or a mental health condition  
• One third of autistic individuals do have a learning disability
• Autistic people are more likely to experience poor mental health: it is thought that 70-80% of autistic individuals will experience mental health problems in their lifetimes
• Autistic people face significant barriers when it comes to employment with only 16% of autistic adults in full time positions

(statistics from the National Autistic Society and Beyond Autism)

The National Autistic Society have created this short video about what autism is which is a very useful watch. Click here for What Is Autism a summary of what autism is and it includes some more links to really useful videos, such as this one:

https://youtu.be/GAehvcnFjmI?si=3kichZm_lMfwWA4f (video on workplace recruitment)

We encourage you to reflect on what autism means to you and how you have interacted with autistic individuals. We also challenge you to come up your own reasons as to why inclusion matters in the workplace. We’ll share some ideas below.

 

Why does inclusion matter?  

We’ve talked about autism, and we’d now like to share some ideas around why inclusion matters when it comes to autism in the workplace.

Hopefully you came up with lots of these in your reflection exercise:

• Fostering a sense of belonging: we can encourage deeper empathy, team work and a sense of understanding and respect which contributes to us all feeling happier, healthier at work
• Diverse perspectives create innovation: Autistic employees will often approach tasks in a different, fresh and creative way which can drive innovation
• Success grows from empowerment: providing tailored support for autistic individuals through reasonable adjustments and/or clear communication will empower individuals to do their best and thrive in their teams and roles!
• We can all learn from one another: creating, embedding and celebrating inclusive workplaces means we can all learn from one another and enrich our lives!

To help to raise further awareness, we’ve put together a true or false activity about autism you can do as a quick team exercise either in person or via an online team meeting! Click here True or False

 

What does it really feel like to have autism?

Step Inside Shoes

We would like to encourage you to build your empathy and understanding around what it really feels like to have autism.

So here’s a short task for you, choose one of the following:

1. Watch this video from the Autistic Society to understand what overwhelm might feel like for an autistic individual and reflect on this and how it could impact your colleagues in the workplace: https://youtu.be/aPknwW8mPAM?si=kNzdG-iF8j15-6e5 (video on sensory overload)  
2. If you know any autistic people, inside or outside work, take some time to actually talk to them about their experience. Ask open questions, be curious and really get to understand what it feels like to walk in their shoes on a day-to-day basis

The more understanding we can gain, the better we can create accepting, inclusive and diverse workplaces!

 

What are the key traits of autism

As we build our awareness of autism, we want to encourage you to learn more about key traits of autism and think about how these might impact you and your autistic colleagues in the workplace.

We also want to encourage you to continue imagine what it might feel like to be in a work environment for your autistic colleagues so we can really start to build empathic and compassionate understanding to truly create and embed inclusive workplaces for all.

Click here Key traits of Autism for an overview of the key traits that people with autism might exhibit or experience.

Remember that traits will vary from person to person as, just like neurotypical people, each autistic individual is unique with different strengths, challenges, perspectives and preferences.

Also bear in mind that some of your colleagues may be experiencing some of the traits of autism but may not necessarily have a diagnosis. Indeed, it can take people sometimes years to get to the point of diagnosis and some people never do which isn’t always a bad thing! Diagnosis can be both liberating and challenging for people. Remember to treat everyone as an individual, each with unique strengths and challenges, rather than seeking to judge or diagnose!

What is masking? 

Hopefully you are gaining more awareness about autism and how it might be impactful in the workplace for individuals.

We’d now like to expand our campaign to think more deeply about some of the aspects that impact neurodiverse individuals with autism and the first area we’re going to look at is masking.

Masking in the context of autism is disguising or hiding autistic traits to fit in with what is considered more “normal” or neurotypical behaviour. Masking could include suppressing stimming (self-soothing behaviours), forcing eye contact or scripting conversations.

Some people will mask for years on end to the point where their masked personalities become indistinguishable from their true selves. Masking can be both positive and negative.

See attachment Masking for a video from the National Autistic Society on masking and some quotes from autistic people who have experienced masking and some reasons why autistic people might mask.

Can you imagine how much of an impact this could have on a person’s mental and emotional health! It can easily lead to:

• Autistic burnout: exhaustion and loss of function from prolonged masking and social stress
• Anxiety and depression: due to not being their authentic self, it can sometimes lead to suicidal ideation and/or self-harm
• Social isolation: or feeling disconnected from others
• Relationships: can be impacted as it might be hard for the individual to develop authentic connections
• Loss of self-esteem or confidence

We would like you to reflect on this and think about how you could help your autistic colleagues to unmask to the point where they can be more their true selves in the workplace. What could you do to help facilitate this?

How can we celebrate our whole selves at work?

We’ve talked about autism over the last month to celebrate the diversity of our workforce and work towards creating truly inclusive workplaces where autistic people feel seen, heard, supported and can thrive in their roles and their lives.

When we think about masking and the other traits autistic people might exhibit is there anything we can do as individuals to encourage those who are autistic to be their true selves at work and “unmask” to the point where they feel comfortable?

We should bear in mind that for some autistic people, masking is helpful and for others it is not so helpful. We want to encourage our workplaces to be inclusive and support autistic people in whatever way they want to present themselves to be their true selves.  

Write down some individual goals you can take to work towards this objective in the attached handout: Whole Self Goals

What have you learned?

We hope you have learnt more about autism and have developed your empathic and compassionate understanding.

Here are some ideas we’ve put together to inspire you and add to your list of goals for how you can create more inclusive workplaces for your autistic colleagues.:

• Create and embed psychologically safe workplaces where autistic individuals feel comfortable being themselves and free from judgement
• Encourage open communication and honest conversations about autism including talking about masking and unmasking
• Set up peer and reverse mentoring schemes where neurotypical people can learn from autistic individuals
• Organise lived experiences talks and demonstrations of how it feels to be autistic in the workplace
• Provide support for autistic individuals in the form of coaching to help them to identify their masking behaviours and build goals towards being their true selves
• Create and co-create employee support groups with and for neurodivergent individuals in your workplaces
• Celebrate authenticity and difference and promote the benefits of people feeling they can be their true selves and what this means for the workplace
• Ensure being aware of colleagues who might not know they could be neurodiverse.

 

Further resources & support:

• Our Neurodiversity webpage includes video recordings from various webinars – LINK
• Health & Wellbeing & EDI platform of activities (webinars, courses & events) – LINK. We have a series of neurodiversity in the workplace webinars taking place in the coming months.