Microaggressions are never okay.
Repeated microaggressions can amount to unlawful harassment, bullying or discrimination but even one-off microaggressions can negatively impact the health and wellbeing of the person experiencing them.
It might be useful to think about what is meant by microaggressions (link to definition and examples page) and how these behaviours are described before deciding what to do.
What can you do?
Think
- Take time to write down, somewhere private to you, what happened, how you felt and the details. It can be hard to remember incident details later down the line if you ever want to recall them.
- Call them in -> Create a safe environment where you can speak to the individual authentically and explain to them how their behaviour might have impacted the other person.
- Visit the EDI hub to learn more about Microaggressions and how to deal with them: Key EDI concepts (sharepoint.com)
Support
- Listen - Just taking the time to listen to someone and talk about what has happened can help.
- Encourage your colleague/peer to reach out for support.
Report
If someone you know has been affected, you can encourage them to seek support. Alternatively, you can make an anonymous disclosure, or you or the person can make a report with contact details. The University can only act on reports where contact details are provided. Choosing to report anonymously means The Open University won’t be able to contact you to offer any advice or support but it will allow us to monitor and analyse trends.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
- Find out more on support available for students for mental health and wellbeing
- Find out more on support available for staff for mental health and wellbeing