Insecurities, empowerment, and the importance of recognizing diversity

The following is a discussion board reply I posted for a college assignment, but I believe it applies to my last blog post as well.

I just wanted to reply quickly to your reply.

I definitely agree with you that it is important to empower individuals to overcome their circumstances (Hays & Erford, 2014). I, personally, believe empowerment involves the counselor being willing to take a stand for social justice issues. "Another theory is empowerment theory. Empowerment theory has roots in both feminist and multicultural theories..., offering counselors a way to incorporate social advocacy into their sessions when working with traditionally marginalized populations" (Hays & Erford, 2014, p. 537). As counselors, we must be willing to understand how oppression affects those being oppressed. I absolutely love the statement made by Hays and Erford (2014) that "Positive identity formation then becomes the process of valuing one's traditionally oppressed culture as valid inside of and apart from the dominant culture" (p. 537).

When I read this, I think of my twelve- year old son. Taliesin has dyslexia and dyscalculia, which affect his personal learning style. We homeschool, so we are able to cater to his individual learning needs. However, we have run into teachers such as Sunday school teachers in the "dominant culture" (Hays & Erford, 2014, p. 537) of those who believe education must be done in the way everyone else (mainly public education and traditional private education) does it. As much as I explain Taliesin's strengths (he may not want to read the Bible in class, but ask him questions about the Bible. He has a tremendous comprehension ability), many have not wanted to see. They want to focus on what this dominant culture says and pay no attention to the "marginalized population" (Hays & Erford, 2014). In their mind, empowerment is fitting in and doing things the way everyone else does. I love that the authors have taken a different point of view that empowerment is valuing the traditionally oppressed culture within and outside of the dominant culture (Hays & Erford, 2014).

This can also be applied to my own discussion board post and will also be applied in my research paper, which I have chosen to write over the topic of classism. In our American culture, we have an ideal of what goals people should try to attain. That includes getting the right education to get a good job to buy a big house and a big car and have the latest technological gadgets. This was the mindset my own family has tried to impose upon me. It is the mindset that even my fellow Christians have taken on, when it is far from what Scripture teaches. As someone who is educated (two bachelor's degrees, and almost completed my master's) who works as a cashier at Wal-Mart, I can say from experience how those who are viewed "below average" are treated. I have had customers believe they have to tell me how much change to give them back if they add a penny after I enter into the cash register the amount of money given to me for their purchases. I have had managers treat me as though I need them to explain to me very simple tasks - until they find out what my education level is. Just a week or two ago, we had an acting customer service manager who did not believe me as to what the overnight policies were concerning tobacco sales and check cashing. Her actions demeaned me in the eyes of the customers. She discovered the next night that I had been correct.

These are some personal examples that are the results of classism. Empowerment and the empowerment theory ties in here, because, no matter how much we know our value, when someone devalues us, it does affect us psychologically. The week that this occurred at work, I was so down. I could not bring myself back up, because I felt as though people were putting me down. When people question my son (who is quite intelligent) because he learns differently, it hurts him. I believe instead of teaching people to simply be happy with themselves (usually, they are. It is the opinion of others that brings them down), we must be willing to stand up and say "different is not wrong." Just because my son has difficulties in certain areas does not make him unintelligent. Just because someone works as a cashier or in maintenance or in any other physical labor, blue-collar job, that does not mean that person is unintelligent or uneducated. It means we all have the right to live our lives as we see fit. Empowerment is being willing to take a stand for social justice and diversity.

Thank you, again, for your comments! They were very thought-provoking. God bless.

Kandy

References

Hays, D. & Erford, B. (2014). Developing a multicultural counseling competence: A systems approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.