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Inclusive Copy Guidelines and Principles

Use people first language. Refer to individuals as people with a disability, people who deal with trauma, people who have a mental illness, people who are in poverty. Instead of using adjectives first implying that these individuals ARE those traits/illnesses. Ie. A disabled person, a PTSD victim, a mentally ill individual. Furthermore do not use the word suffer or suffers from when describing people. Most people do not "suffer" from anything. Their typical/normal is just different from ours. Using the word suffering implies that they are different, undesirable, and a burden.




Use Proper and Gender Neutral Pronouns. Instead of referring to people as he or she when writing your copy, use they. It is more inclusive for people who may be having a struggle with their identity and it also allows you to speak to everyone on the gender binary who may need your magic. If you are unsure of someone's pronouns, it is polite and okay to ask. If you want to take things a step further, it is helpful to include your pronouns in bios, emails, etc.


Amplify Community Voice! Do this from providing the experiences of your patrons and clients, with their consent. By sharing stories from the community that are different from your own, you strengthen the story of the collective and help others embody empathy for people who are different from them.


Creating accessibility on social media platforms is easy as content creators and is necessary for allowing your content to be seen and heard by everyone. Putting captions on all videos for the hearing impaired is important especially on platforms like Instagram where a majority of people are watching stories and may not be able to hear what you have to say. Image descriptions for visually impaired users is also important especially when an image has to be associated with the post like it does on Instagram.


Do you own work to understand why intersectionality is important. Intersectionality is really important when discussing the systems and oppression that is at play in our societal structure. Intersectionality is the "interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender that can create overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage." ( https://open.buffer.com/inclusive-language-tech/)


Transition your language to stop using your own personal image as the reference group (as soul driven entrepreneurs we are supposed to be serving the soul).


Start becoming aware of the biases and assumptions you are making when you are writing your content and how you can challenge those by using more inclusive copy.


Stop using the word normal and start getting specific-- instead of talking about people with a disability compared to people without a disability (or that particular disability) as normal, say non-disabled persons. Don't refer to yourself, or your traits, as normal. Nothing is really "normal".


Have a glossary/footnotes/resources when discussing terms and ideas that not all people have a lot of knowledge or education on. Don't be afraid to use language that people might not know or understand-- you are helping to educate the collective when you do so.

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