Ableism: A set of beliefs or practices that devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities.

Age: A person of a particular age or within a range of ages. A protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

Allies and allyship: Allyship is an active and consistent effort to recognise your privilege (based on gender, class, race, sexual identity, etc.) and to use it to support and advocate for people with less privilege, by understanding the struggles that they face. An ally is not a member of the group who they are supporting.

Anti-racism: The work of actively challenging and opposing racism in all forms, even within oneself, by advocating for changes in political, economic, and social life.

Antisemitism: Antisemitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish).

Cis-normative/ hetero-normative: The way that society is structured such that being heterosexual/cisgender is the ‘default’ or ‘normal’. It is the assumption that all, or almost all, individuals are heterosexual/cisgender until proven otherwise.

Disability: A person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. A protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

Diversity: Diversity is recognising, respecting and celebrating each other’s differences. A diverse environment is one with a wide range of backgrounds and mindsets, which allows for an empowered culture of creativity and innovation.

EDI champions: Someone who voluntarily acts as an ambassador to promote, embed, and advocate for an inclusive, fair, and respectful workplace culture.

Employee lifecycle: The key stages that a person progresses through when engaging with an organisation as an employee. The cycle starts from a person becoming aware of the company, continues through their employment, and ends after they leave the organisation.

Ethnic groups: A community or population made up of people who share a common cultural background or descent, like their colour, nationality (including citizenship) ethnicity or national origins.

Equality: Equality means fairness – ensuring individuals, or groups of individuals, are not treated less favourably because of their protected characteristics. It also means equality of opportunity – ensuring those who may be disadvantaged can get the tools they need to access the same, fair opportunities as their peers.

Equality Act 2010: The legal framework for equalities in Britain, consisting of three main areas: eliminating discrimination, advancing equality and fostering good relations.

Equality Impact Assessment (EIA): A risk assessment tool used to identify the potential impacts (either positive or negative) of documents and services relating to the workforce or local people and communities.

Gender Pay Gap: The difference in average hourly earnings between men and women within an organisation. It does not refer to unequal pay for the same job, and it arises from various structural and societal factors.

Gender re-assignment: The legal term for transition, especially medical transition. It usually means to undergo medical procedures which change the body to align with a person’s gender, but can also mean changing names, pronouns, dressing differently and for a person to live in their self-identified gender.

Global majority: Describes people who are Asian, Black, Brown, Indigenous, and of mixed heritage backgrounds. Collectively, these groups represent approximately 80% of the world’s population.

Health inequalities: Health inequalities are unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population, and between different groups within society. These include how long people are likely to live, the health conditions they may experience and the care that is available to them. For the purposes of Equality Impact Assessment, the ICB looks specifically at digital inclusion, socio-economic deprivation and caring responsibilities.

Healthwatch: A body established in 2013 to ensure people and communities’ experiences and views improve health and social care services.

Hidden Disabilities Sunflower scheme: A simple tool for people to voluntarily share that they have a disability or condition that may not be immediately apparent and that they may need a helping hand, understanding, or more time in shops, at work, on transport, or in public spaces. This can be in the form of a card/lanyard.

ICB core functions: These are the key areas that form the ICB’s structure and include: planning, finance, quality and nursing, corporate etc.

Inclusion: Inclusion means creating an environment where everyone feels welcome and valued. An inclusive environment can only be created once we are more aware of our unconscious biases and have learned how to manage them.

Intersectionality: Refers to each person having their own unique experiences of discrimination across a range of different social identities and protected characteristics. See the full definition on the page Causes of discrimination.

Islamophobia: An exaggerated, irrational fear, hatred and hostility towards Islam and Muslims perpetuated by negative stereotypes resulting in bias, discrimination and marginalisation of Muslims from civic, social, and political life.

Just culture: A fair, transparent environment in which staff report mistakes without fear of undue punishment, because the organisation is focused on improving systems and processes rather than blaming individuals.

Marriage and civil partnership: Refers to colleagues who are married or in a civil partnership. A protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

Maturity index: A measurement or assessment scale that indicates the degree of progress made by an organisation with respect to the issue the scale is intended to address.

Micro-incivilities and micro-aggressions: Micro-incivilities (also known as micro-aggressions) are everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental behaviours, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their membership of a minority group.

Minoritised person or groups: Means to treat a person or group as distinct from, and less important than, the dominant population.

Neurodivergent/ neurotypical: A person who is ‘neurodivergent’ has a brain that ‘diverges’ from (is different to) the ‘typical’ brain. Someone who is not neurodivergent is often referred to as ‘neurotypical’. Because of the diversity of all human brains, there is debate about whether a ‘typical’ brain really exists.

Neurodiversity: Describes the concept that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways; there is no one ‘right’ way of thinking, learning, and behaving, and differences are not viewed as deficits.

NHS People Promise: An NHS-wide plan developed in 2020 to deliver improvements to the working lives of NHS staff built around seven core themes.

Population health management: A methodology which improves population health through data-driven planning and the delivery of proactive care to optimise health outcomes.

Pregnancy and maternity: The condition of being pregnant or expecting a baby. Maternity refers to the period after the birth and is linked to maternity leave in the employment context. A protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

Prejudice and discrimination: Prejudice means to ‘pre-judge’ someone. It starts in the mind and is a negative attitude towards people based solely on a group to which they belong. It is based on an unfounded opinion. Discrimination means to act unfairly towards a person or group of people based on their actual or perceived protected characteristic(s). It is putting prejudice into action, excluding people from equal treatment.

Protected characteristics: Nine specific aspects of identity or attributes which are safeguarded against discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. These are age, disability, gender re-assignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.

Race: A group of people defined by their colour, nationality (including citizenship) ethnicity or national origins. A racial group can be made up of more than one distinct racial group, such as Black British. A protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

Rainbow Lanyard scheme: A physical lanyard which shows the wearer is LGBTQ+ or an ally.

Religion or belief: Refers to any religion, including a lack of religion. Belief refers to any religious or philosophical belief and includes a lack of belief. Generally, a belief should affect your life choices or the way you live for it to be included in the definition. A protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

Sex: A man or woman. Assigned at birth and different from Gender Identity. A protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

Sexual orientation: Whether a person’s sexual attraction is towards their own sex, the opposite sex or to both sexes. A protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010.

Training needs analysis: An organisation-wide survey of staff training needs to help plan for future training and development provision.

Transgender and non-binary: Transgender (or trans) relates to a person whose gender identity does not correspond with the sex registered for them at birth. Trans identities take a wide diversity of forms. Non-binary refers to an individual who does not belong fully in the category of either ‘man’ or ‘woman’. It is an umbrella term encompassing a wide variety of genders that fall outside the more usually socially recognised binary.

Workplace adjustments: Adjustments made to remove barriers and to bring equity to staff with a disability or long-term health condition.