listening for diversity: supporting cultural safety

As a graphic recorder or facilitator, how do you "Listen for Diversity"?

Many of us are working in specialized fields. It’s not one size fits all.

One of my passions is using graphic facilitation to support cultural safety. As professionals, we can help the groups we work with by developing our core competencies, just as we work on other aspects of our practice.

Image by lindsey roffe, ink factory

Listening for diversity, I would like to share a few competencies that are important to our practice.

Sometimes, listening for diversity takes place before we set one foot in the room!

And most importantly, I’m always learning. If you want to learn more, my chapter about cultural safety for visual practitioners is available for free in four parts.

As visual practice expands, it's an exciting time for us to share techniques about "Listening for Diversity" that work for practitioners, clients, and communities.

Listening and Drawing to

Support Cultural Safety

1. Doing the work of cultural safety, cultural agility, and cultural humility all “starts with me”.

It’s important that as a white person, I understand my own history in the context of colonization where I live, and its impact on Indigenous people and cultures in their own lands.

2. I can do the ongoing work to understand my biases.

I start from an assumption that things are not equal, institutions are not neutral, and that at the same time, people inside them may be very well-intentioned and working for positive change.

3. As a professional, I can review my body of work with a reflective lens.

For example, I can examine a selection of my images. What do I notice?

I can do this reflection with a partner, too.

4. I can go beyond listening for what is in the room, and additionally - listen for paradigms.

What is happening under the surface (eg de/colonialism, systems of class, gender, privilege?).

What might be a new paradigm to me might not be new to participants – something to keep in mind.

5. I can support and amplify traditional Indigenous knowledge that is in the room.

This can mean drawing differently, working with different agenda formats, and also – stepping aside so there’s more space for others to draw.

For example, mentoring youth graphic recorders, and more.

6. I know I’m going to make mistakes – I’m always learning. Instead of avoiding mistakes, I try and find ways to make mistakes and be accountable afterwards.

It’s a great feeling when a group is comfortable with me enough to point out my mistakes and gently tease me about them, actually.

Through their amazing insights and experience, all of the graphic facilitators here show that it’s vitally important that our work be representative of the people with whom we’re collaborating, and that we reflect on the choices we make.

These graphic recordings were drawn live, during a large group discussion at the Listening for Diversity workshop.

This was held at the 2017 International Forum of Visual Practitioners conference.

The tips were gathered in writing from the field in 2017.

For an extended version of this article, visit drawingchange.com.

With heartfelt thanks to the folks who took the time to share their thoughts and tips with the field!

~ SAM

Check out our new book:

Drawn Together ThroughVISUAL PRACTICE to learn even more!