Identity and Diversity
Identity
A person can be many things at once: child, sibling, parent, partner, friend, football player, dancer, gourmet cook, stand-up comic, church goer, fire eater—and these things change and evolve throughout your life.
But what doesn’t change are the foundations on which your identity is built. That distinctive combination of genes, whakapapa, upbringing and values that makes you uniquely you.
Every person has an identity, it is a combination of all the different parts in a person’s life that make them a unique person.
These parts tell the world what you are like as a person, what you connect with and in the end, define who you are.
They create the lens through which you see and make sense of the world, and this lens is coloured by your background and your place of origin—your roots.
These factors include everything from gender to sexuality, religion to ethnicity and beyond, and you may find elements within yourself that are both different and similar to someone else!
Diversity
The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect.
It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognising our individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs or other ideologies.
Diversity is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual.
