Bias and discrimination in society

While reading the newspaper this morning, I came across an insightful article about how societies treat people with disabilities. A reflection lingered in my mind, contemplating a question which I am certain many of you have previously considered. Why do we react differently when we see a person who, through no fault of their own, is not “identical” or “like one of us”? This ranges from microaggressions, such as a snub, to more overt hostility, stigmatisation, and rejection, as we are increasingly seeing in parts of society today. Indeed, truly we are all different, and each person, as Carl Rogers argued, has the individuality to be themselves, which is what makes us human.

Despite what some of us may believe, all humans behave uniquely. We make conscious and unconscious assumptions about who we are and the way we should behave and how we treat others who are “not like us”. It seems to me that we judge others as we have been brought up and perhaps conditioned by our society, rather than for the individual reasons relevant to a particular person. This indirect, almost implicit form of discrimination and bias is often the most powerful and hardest to counter. Accepting that we, or society, have made mistakes or lack compassion is often challenging. As Alexander Pope (1711) once observed, “to err is human; to forgive is divine,” so that acting with compassion, understanding, and empathy makes for a more humane society. How do you think the “different” person feels? What gives us the liberty to do so? And more importantly, how do we think we can each do our part to improve this behaviour in society?