Biases and Stereotypes we all have them....now what are we going to do about it?

Do you have any biases or stereotypes??

In my Intimate Partner Violence training we had a quiz we had to take to see if we had any biases or stereotypes…
it would be great to say we didn't but after you read these 18 questions I bet it would be hard to say we don’t.
And if we do how does that effect the way we treat people and how we help them when they come to us for help?

When you speak to people on the phone, does their accent determine how you respond?

Do you believe older people pretend to be sick in order to get attention?

Would you consider it an insult if someone thought you were homosexual?

Have you ever seen an Aboriginal person in a liquor store and assumed he/she was an alcoholic?

Do you believe people who cannot read have low intelligence?

Have you ever looked at a lesbian and automatically thought of her sexuality, rather than seeing her as a whole person?

If you see a person from a minority group in a position of power do you think that they probably got there through affirmative action?

Will it matter if your child dates someone of a different culture, from a different religion or of the same sex?

Do you believe people living on social assistance could get a job if they really wanted to?

What do you think when you see an overweight woman buying junk food at the grocery store?

Do you think that a trainer needs to have a university education?

What do you do if you hear someone making a racist comment? Let it slide? Speak up against it? Hear some truth in their comment?
Have you ever thought you could “spot” a lesbian or wondered who the “man” was in a lesbian relationship?

Do you get frustrated when people do not speak your language?

Do you think that everyone should be forced to retire at sixty-five to give younger people an opportunity to work?

What do you see first - the disability or the person?

Do you get irritated when you see an able bodied young male begging for money?

Would you believe a sex trade worker if she told you she is a victim of intimate partner violence?

Do you have any biases that you had not thought about before? What will you do with these biases now that you are aware of them?