LEILASABET

Recognize | Learn | Grow 

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It is normal to be uncomfortable with something we don’t understand. But just because we don’t understand it, or because it’s different than what we are used to, doesn’t mean it is bad or wrong.
Bias can be harmful. It can divide individuals and create barriers simply based on one aspect of themselves. I encourage everyone to be intentional about looking more closely at the ways they judge others 
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I encourage everyone to choose kindness, to slow down and look more deeply at individuals before we judge their value or intentions. Recognize our humanity. Each and every one of us has hopes, fears, the need to be seen, heard, understood, and feel like they belong and connected to others. We connect through common purpose, I encourage everyone to be intentional about finding commonality with individuals before putting up a barrier of exclusion.

Believe every person has inherent worth and is entitled to respect and dignity. This is powerful -after all -an entire country was founded upon this belief.

What does BIAS have to do with
LIFT & be UPLIFTED? 

What I focus on with my initiative LIFT & be Uplifted is the bias extends to ourselves.  We can find ourselves conditioned by cultural influences and media to internalize that parts of our identity, appearance or ability is bad or flawed. This will likely cause you to hide those aspects of who you inherently are, in order to fit in with others in your environment.  This is not sustainable and we now understand the mental strain that this leads to can affect our mental and physical health negatively.

Let me take this moment to tell you something that took me a long time to believe
Your differences make you remarkable


I encourage you to practice self-care by journaling your thoughts about who you are, what you value, what is important to you, what your strengths are and what you want to develop, and identify your wants and needs. Use this knowledge gained through self-reflection to find an environment that supports your growth by allowing you to show up authentically. This is the single most empowering thing you can do for yourself . 
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Which is why it is the foundation of my initiative LIFT & be Uplifted. 
Building an unshakable belief in your value, and creating more inclusive cultures where we have influence. 
 


I encourage you to use this useful tool, created, developed and presented by social science researchers at Harvard University.
This is an ongoing study, using the data from individuals who participate in taking the test. Unlike the faddish surveys you find on social media platforms that use your data to target you with your preferences, this test is simply a tool to give you understanding about yourself
and provide social science researchers with valuable data. 
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the link to the IMPLICIT ASSOCIATION TEST is HERE 
  Project Implicit https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html Implicit Association Test (IAT)

From childhood we are exposed to attributes portrayed negatively in culture and through mass media. However, even if our attitudes and beliefs come from our culture, they remain in our own minds. Subtle psychological biases of all kinds can influence our behavior if we are not vigilant to their influence. But there is good news!   Even small positive effects are can be important! Small effects can build into big differences: 

the societal level -
across lots of different people making decisions
and at the
individual level across the many decisions that one person makes.

So being aware of assumptions that affect biased attitudes can go a long way in creating new connections and inclusion.


 What can you do about an implicit preference that you don’t want?


I encourage you to focus on strategies that deny implicit biases the chance to operate. One strategy is ensuring that implicit biases don’t leak out in the first place.
We can practice “blinding” ourselves from learning a person’s gender, race, ability etc. When you’re making a decision about them. 
Another strategy is to compensate for your implicit preferences. For example, if you have an implicit preference for young people you can try to be friendlier toward elderly people.
 Based on what is known about how implicit biases form, it’s a good idea to be aware of and consider what gets into our minds in the first place. The things you read or watch influence your beliefs. This reinforces stereotypes that may not be fully accurate. Be vigilant about neutrality in the media that you consume. If you know the information that you consume is biased to your preferences, go out of your way to also consume media that opposes your preferences. This is how we learn, grow in understanding. no one is completely correct all the time. Many issues today are incredibly complex, and do not have a right or wrong answer. understanding opposing ideas builds tolerance and understanding that is UNITING. Something we should all be striving for. 


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  • Home
  • About Leila
  • Inspiring Women Blog
  • Lift & Be Uplifted
  • Media
  • Press
  • Gallery