Diversity Awareness

922 Words2 Pages

Diversity Awareness

Differences in our society are many, including age, religion, physical and

mental abilities, gender, sexual orientation, income, family or social status, and

physical appearance. Anyplace where differences are found leaves room for

stereotypes.

Stereotypes are generalizations about people usually based on inaccurate

information or assumptions rather than facts. (Wei, 1996) Stereotypes do not take

into account the great diversity of people within a group of people. Nor do

stereotypes consider the present circumstances of the individual. Even worse,

stereotypes can lead to prejudicial or discriminatory behavior.

Most of the observations I made concerning my stereotypypical behavior

circled around rich people, foreigners, and the elderly. All the reasons I have

developed generalizations for these groups are because of my limited contact with

members of these groups.

The first group that I have noticed I stereotype more than others are what I

consider rich people. Ole Miss and Oxford has an over abundance of these people

which has led me to distance myself even farther from them. I believe that all rich

people are arrogant and that they always look for ways to down people of a lower

socioeconomic status. I think most of these generalizations that I have concerning

this group evolve from my personal experiences with students at Ole Miss.

I am from a family that struggles to make it week to week and cannot afford

to help out with my college expenses. Ole Miss, from what I have observed, caters

to the rich and provides no support for those not fortunate enough to label

themselves as rich. I find it hard to relate to students that are fortunate enough to

have their parents pay for their...

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...her. No setting in any region

of the United States will be spared by the pandemic of AIDS that will continue

into the next century, according to all the best estimates.

I think the best way to tackle the issues of working with an AIDS patient

involves resolving my own conflicts. The fact that AIDS is a terminal disease is

probably the biggest reason I would have a problem working with these

individuals. Death in itself is a topic that I do not like to ponder and I must come

to terms with this if I want to work in any field that involves social counseling. I

also believe the risk of getting AIDS is a chance I would not like to take no matter

how small the chances are. I do not think literature would help me overcome this

conflict. I believe that if I come to terms with the aspects of death and dying then I

would be able to better work with this group.

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