Next Steps in Inclusion – Practical Tips to Apply
Last month, Beth Cox talked about inclusion in publishing. Below are our top practical takeaways that you can use to be more inclusive in your work.
Word choice
- Gender: when using “boys and girls” rather than “girls and boys”, there's an implicit message that boys are superior. Either phrase reinforces difference rather than similarities and perpetuates inequality. Use “children” to include all children, especially those who don't fit cleanly within the girl−boy binary.
- Race & racism: many words have multiple meanings, connotations or associations and can reinforce stereotypes or negative perspectives. One example is “going pale with fear”. Instead, you could use “ashen”, because that works for people of various skin tones.
Often in books, dark and light symbolism is used. Dark and black is associated with evil or bad people, light and white is associated with goodness and purity, reinforcing racial biases. A term like “pure white snow”, whilst not linked to skin colour, reinforces bias.
- Ableism: certain language can oppress disabled people. “That's so lame”, associates a physical condition, impairment or difference as something negative. The terms “blindly”, or “deaf to” are mis-used to indicate ignorance. The phrase “crippled by anxiety” uses a derogatory term that should be avoided.
Offensive or harmful?
There's a difference between whether something is offensive or harmful. People can be offended by all sorts of things, so we can never guarantee that something won't cause offence. However, if it perpetuates stereotypes or misconceptions, engenders distrust, hatred or pity, then it’s harmful. Some examples:
- Heteronormativity reinforces that to be heterosexual and cisgender (identifying with the gender assigned at birth) is the ‘norm’. This is reflected in the families that we see, assumptions made about who someone might be attracted to, who someone’s partner is, assuming someone's gender based on their looks, or having mum and dad as the most common parents. It doesn't seem overtly harmful, but if you're the child or reader who's never seen your identity or family set-up in books, it gives a harmful message that “you're wrong, you're different”.
- Another common trope is that fat people are unhealthy. Anyone larger bodied is often portrayed as unfit or wheezing. Occasionally, as less intelligent, or the only person shown eating, or eating unhealthily – or they're on the edge or left out of the main group.
- Diminishing cultures to trends. For example, adopting the idea of spirit animals with no acknowledgment that this is an important part of Indigenous American culture.
Accessibility
Accessibility is as important as inclusion. Everyone needs to be able to enjoy great books. There are many reasons a book might be hard to access for someone, not limited to the 10% of the population who are dyslexic – children reading books, and adults reading books to them. It's possible to make most mainstream books more accessible, and expand the market.
- One common issue is a low colour contrast between objects, or between text and background.
- A patterned background can cause visual stress and images behind text create a barrier to reading.
- Particularly in children's books, ornate typefaces are often used for emphasis. Or text is curved around something, or doesn’t have a flat horizontal baseline, making it harder for those with print disabilities to read.
- Layout barriers can include a lack of blank space, a cramped layout or an illogical reading order. Excessively busy illustrations can become overwhelming.
- Paper – if it's gloss, you might get glare, making it less readable for some. The weight of the paper matters – if text shows through from another page, it will make it harder to read. Also consider whether the pages are easy to turn.
- Complex language might make a book hard to understand. Avoid overly long sentences. Use active rather than passive sentences, avoid jargon and keep to everyday English. Colloquialisms and idioms can be challenging, especially for neurodivergent readers or those who don't have English as a first language.
- Colour-vision deficiency, more commonly known as colour-blindness, affects 8% of males. In educational books, readers are often expected to see colours to answer questions, or understand a picture. There are online colour vision deficiency simulators that can help.
Show a more inclusive society
As well as being accessible, books can show a more inclusive society even if you don't have any marginalised characters.
In a school setting, a museum or any public space, an inclusive environment can be shown through an accessible or hearing-loop sign, lifts or ramps, inclusive toilets, or a prayer-room sign.
Getting it wrong
People worry about discussing diversity and inclusion for fear of saying the wrong thing. But if we don't talk, we don't make progress. To move forwards, we need to be able to share thoughts, ideas and questions without judgement.
There are two important aspects of this. Firstly, creating an environment where it's OK for people to make mistakes. Secondly, if someone does get something wrong, calling them in, not calling them out. If you call someone out and criticise them, they feel defensive, and learning can’t happen. Whereas if you call someone in and say, “have you thought about how that might come across?”, it's kinder and more generous.
Beth Cox
Beth Cox has been working in publishing for over 20 years. She runs Beth Cox Inclusion Consultancy Ltd, and works as an editor, consultant and trainer.