- Inclusive language should be reflective and welcoming to our multigenerational colleagues. It is good practice to avoid terms that may be perceived as a manifestation of ageism. Ageism can be defined as the application of assumed age-based group characteristics to an individual, regardless of that individual’s actual personal characteristics.

- Avoid general terms as these imply that people of certain age groups or generations are a homogenous group, failing to recognise people’s individuality.

- The portrayal of people with disabilities has traditionally used language that emphasizes the disability rather than the person, resulting in the depersonalisation, stereotyping (often with people with a disability seen as victims or suffering) and the amalgamation of whole spectrums of specific physical and intellectual impairments.

- Avoid blanket terms. Always put the person before the disability.

It’s very common for people to confuse sex, gender, and gender identity, despite being very different things:

- Sex, or biological sex, is a label assigned by a doctor at birth based on attributes such as anatomy, chromosomes, and hormones. An individual can be male, female, or intersex.

- Gender is a set of expectations from society, about behaviours, characteristics, and thoughts. Gender is usually considered binary (male or female), but can also be viewed as a spectrum, instead of being anchored on biology, it’s more about how one is expected to act, because of one’s sex.

- Gender identity refers to an individual’s internal sense of gender, i.e. being a man, a woman, neither of these, both. This can be man, woman, transgender, cisgender, non-binary, genderqueer/gender fluid or agendered.

- In language terms, the most inclusive strategy is to avoid references to a person’s gender except where it is pertinent to the discussion. This often involves seeking gender neutrality when using terms, expressions and pronouns. Fortunately, English provides many options for ensuring that language usage is both unambiguous and inclusive.

- Use person-centred language and respect the preferences of those people who want to be referred to by gender neutral pronouns.

- Sexual orientation refers a person´s physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction to another individual. This could be towards people of the same sex, opposite sex or both. Sexual orientations include asexual, bisexual, gay, lesbian, pansexual, questioning and straight.

- Avoid terms that suggest a degree of voluntary choice when this is not necessarily the case.

Race, ethnicity and nationality

- The UK is a racially and culturally diverse place and it’s important not to assume that a person’s appearance defines their nationality or cultural background. It’s recommended to only use a person’s race, ethnicity or nationality to identify or describe them if it is directly relevant to the point you are making.

- Don´t use ‘minority group’ as it implies inferior social position and is often relative to geographic location.

- Avoid stereotyping, e.g., making positive or negative generalisations about members of a particular racial, ethnic or national group.

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