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The past 1.5 months since #GeorgeFloyd 's murder have been a time of introspection for our occupational therapy academic team. We now have a Racial and Cultural Equity (RACE) Working Group, est. 19 June 2020 led by @teohjouyin . Here is a tweet thread summarising our journey. 1/N
#GeorgeFloyd 's murder happened on 25 May 2020. On 7 June 2020, the toppling of slave trader Edward Colston's statue in Bristol sent a message loud and clear systemic racism was not just an American problem, the UK is not exempt either. 2/N https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/07/europe/edward-colston-statue-bristol/index.html
We released our statement in support of #BlackLivesMatter 
on 15 June 2020 - and received feedback from our students. We recognise that allyship is a verb and words need to be followed up by action, hence the establishment of our RACE Working Group.
on 15 June 2020 - and received feedback from our students. We recognise that allyship is a verb and words need to be followed up by action, hence the establishment of our RACE Working Group.
RACE Working Group held its first 'brave space' listening event between staff and students self-identified as BAME on 3 Jul 2020. Many EDI listening events can be traumatic for minorities so significant prep work was done to ensure good practice. https://twitter.com/Dinuli15/status/1279178762274459651
We thank our students for their investment of time and look forward to reporting our outcomes over the next few months as we move into the new academic year. The 7 As of Authentic Allyship is a useful guide h/t @LecturerMish
Our initiatives we are committing ourselves to in the upcoming academic year: diversifying our case studies. This allows us to incorporate discussions around cultural humility and culturally safe practices into our teaching. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/23/dont-touch-my-hair-emma-dabiri-review
Diversifying our case studies also allows us to address issues like casual racism (microaggressions) and their impact on health and well-being. We serve diverse clients in #occupationaltherapy and should not be perpetuating harmful behaviour ourselves 7/N https://nsuworks.nova.edu/occupation/vol3/iss1/4/
The mandatory Equality and Diversity Training our students attend could be better. Our RACE lead has proposed for action-oriented *allyship training* instead. This open letter from academics, staff and students is useful for thinking around training. 8/N https://www.timeshighereducation.com/letters/we-are-crucial-moment-address-racial-justice-higher-education
Our equitable student recruitment/retention practices result in a diverse student body: 30-50% BAME. Students are proud of the diversity of the Brunel #OccupationalTherapy community. Credit to ATs Drs @lim_hean & Ayana Ifekoya for their leadership! https://twitter.com/lim_hean/status/1280809741221011457
We (students, staff repped by @teohjouyin and @lim_hean) were part of the @theRCOT BAME Big Conversation. Learnt about initiatives like @OT_SHU 's under the leadership of @shirlmasterson and UK BAME OT Network. Looking forward to working together. 10/N https://twitter.com/Dinuli15/status/1280218601832755200
RACE lead @teohjouyin is one of two #OccupationalTherapy leaders alongside @LecturerMish from @LSBUOTSOCIETY which have been featured on the @AHPLeader @WeAHPs podcast on how to better support BAME emerging leaders in UK AHP. https://twitter.com/AHPLeader/status/1280984274397728770
While we didn't necessarily put our best foot forward at the beginning of this journey, we are learning from mistakes and are working together to do better. Excited to move forward, thank you everybody for your patience and support! /end https://twitter.com/teohjouyin/status/1280989439448285189
