By Roshni Goyate
Welcome to our monthly Diversity Dictionary™ roundup. With COVID-19 on the fronts of many of our minds, April’s five words-of-the-week reflected the new pandemic-related vocabulary fast emerging and entering our everyday lives. As is our aim with Diversity Dictionary™, rather than just present a definition, we probed and questioned the validity of phrases, explored alternatives, and ended with an invitation to join us in creating a new normal with our webinar series through May and June.
Read on for more.
“Chinese Virus”
A term used by the 45th president of the United States racialising the 2020 global pandemic officially named COVID-19, also known as the novel coronavirus. As diversity and inclusion leaders, we never want anyone to be desensitised to harmful and violent language. At the time of our original post, the hashtag “chinavirus” had 4 billion results in 0.40seconds on Google, # chinesevirus 19.5k, # chinavirus has 36.7k on Instagram. Not all the posts are racially motivated. Some are trying to be informative. However, this shows the insipid way racial slurs become commonplace in all communities. WE WANT IT GONE.
That is why we want to #Cancelchinavirus #CancelChinesevirus from all Instagram posts. Please report any posts using this hashtag to Instagram, share this post tagging Instagram via your stories. If you experience anybody in your peer group or community using this phrase, educate the person why this is racist behaviour and unacceptable. We must actively stand up to racism.
Furlough
A temporary leave of employees due to special needs of a company or employer, which may be due to economic conditions at the specific employer or in the economy as a whole – in this case, COVID-19.
The overall objective of furloughing is to keep people at home while enabling employers to retain staff who will be needed when they begin to rebuild their businesses in the future. This will enable work to begin again with a critical core who have the necessary knowledge. [Source: Acclivity Advisors]
”Social Distancing”
Maintaining a physical distance between people to prevent the spread of a contagious disease. We believe there's a missed opportunity by policy-makers and those who coined this language to really connect with what they're trying to achieve. Perhaps a more concrete phrase like *physical* distancing would have been a more accurate and globally universal term – after all, it's about maintaining physical (not social) distance. Whereas abstract language like 'social distancing' runs the risk of having the opposite effect of what it sets out to do, which in this case is to stop the virus being transmitted through physical contact.
Cabin Fever
The distressing irritability, restlessness, lack of energy, or state of physical or mental weariness experienced when a person or group is stuck at an isolated location or in confined quarters for an extended period of time. According to Google Trends, the search term 'cabin fever' saw a 1900% increase between 1st March and 28th March 2020 in the UK. With lockdown restrictions being extended in many parts of the world, cabin fever may accurately describe how you're feeling right now.
No matter what your individual circumstances, living through a pandemic means that we may feel more emotionally vulnerable without even realising. So it's okay to feel cabin fever. It's okay to switch off the 24/7 news and social media cycle. It's okay to not be learning a new skill or working out or trying out new recipes.
And it's also important for us to remember that lockdown and self-isolation guidelines are intended to protect us and help us all get through the pandemic. So please: stay home, save lives. If you do have to go out, do take all the hygiene precautions as advised by the World Health Organisation or the health service where you live, including washing your hands frequently with soap and water, using hand sanitiser, maintaining physical distance if you do have to leave home, and avoiding touching your eyes, nose or mouth.
“New Normal”
A previously unfamiliar or atypical situation that has become standard, usual, or expected.
Many people are using 'new normal' to describe life after lockdown. While the impact of this global pandemic will be felt through every part of society, very much is still unknown about what life will look like post-pandemic. But one thing is for sure: the old normal was failing to serve many of us. Structures of racism, homophobia, ableism, sexism and more have been amplified during this time, but we believe there is the opportunity for us to contribute to a world that can better serve us all. What work needs doing on an individual, collective and societal level to create that new normal?
This is something we're exploring in our upcoming webinar series through May and June. Join us for our four-part series around the themes of Belonging, Shame, Perfectionism and Courage, and the roles each of us can play in creating a new normal by getting to know ourselves and our emotions better.
Sound interesting? Buy your tickets here.
Header image: Gustavo Fring on Pexels