Implicit Bias

Implicit bias is something that we probably all have and a lot of time just do not realize it. We show bias towards many things in our lives - food, clothes, hobbies, and anything other thing that we have a preference for. Those are all acceptable things to have a bias for and where it becomes a problem is when we have biases toward people and we begin to treat them differently because of that. This can come about from where we grew up, how we were raised, the kinds of people that we are comfortable around, and many other things. Most of the time people don't realize that they have implicit bias toward others, but they do because of the stereotypes that they have for others and not acting neutrally with different kinds of people.

In OT, we will work with very diverse people from all walks of life with different demographics and we will have to treat them all the same. When a client comes to us, they will more than likely have differing beliefs and values than we have or they could be from a different culture than holds to different beliefs as well. As OTs, it is our job and responsibility to treat all of our clients the same and give them all the same level of treatment as expected of us.

I think to help address all of our implicit biases we should just try to be more aware of it. When we have a negative thought about someone by just looking the way they look and before we know anything about them, maybe if we just stop, get rid of that thought, and go get to know that person better would help overall. By just staying more aware and taking tests or quizzes to see where of biases lie could also help. You could also talk to someone else about some biases you have and hold each other accountable to be more mindful of people and how we act and think. My biggest take away from this lesson is that we are always going to be around others that we different from us and it is our responsibility to treat them with as much respect and love as we want in return.