Microassaults, Hierarchical Microaggressions

00:06 Microassaults are another type of microaggression.

00:10 And they're unlike the other two that we talked about with the insults and invalidations.

00:15 With microassaults, they're conscious, they're deliberate, and they're either subtle or explicit.

00:21 They're biased attitudes and beliefs are behaviors that we communicate to marginalized groups through environmental cues, verbalizations, or behaviors.

00:32 So we have to be really aware when we make these statements, and oftentimes, they're disparaging, and they're based on something that we think, that we believe is the correct way to do things.

00:44 An example of that could be what I'm doing now, talking about these difficult subjects, and someone makes a statement that says, "Well, you're teaching racism." And I'm saying that because that really happened.

00:57 What I'm trying to teach is that racism is real.

01:01 And that until we acknowledge racism, until we acknowledged by bias, until we acknowledge a lot of the bigotry that happens in this world, then again, we can't develop a treatment plan or a path toward change.

01:14 So that would be an assault, if I'm saying that while if I speak out while someone is talking about something that I might disagree with.

01:24 And that can happen in so many different spheres.

01:27 We see it a lot with religious conversations, we see it a lot with political conversations.

01:32 And now we're seeing a lot with society trying to move toward change and equalize things in this country, make them more equitable and normalized difference.

01:45 Hierarchical microaggressions, I'm sure we can all relate to at some level.

01:51 But these are everyday slides that are found oftentimes in higher education, but it can be found anywhere and they communicate a systemic value in or devalue in of someone because of their role in the institution or in a healthcare system, wherever it is, it also happens in terms of financial prowess.

02:12 So the less than thing is what happens.

02:16 When we talk about it in the space of academia or in the space of nursing, I've talked about it in two ways.

02:22 So in the space of healthcare, not just nursing, so many different examples I can give.

02:27 So in the space of healthcare, oftentimes physicians are seen as the elite person or elite group, the elite discipline, and then maybe PAs or nursing, it just depends, but we place people in these hierarchical levels, and we value or devalue based on that.

02:44 And it doesn't matter if a person is working in housekeeping, working in the cafeteria, CNA or Certified Nursing Assistant, RN, LPN, we have associate degree versus diploma versus bachelor's degree, master's, PhD, and all that.

03:03 The key to remember in terms of dismantling these hierarchical microaggressions is that in any system, every single person is valued in every single discipline is valued, because everybody is necessary in order for an organization to function appropriately.

03:20 And we all have a specific role.

03:22 And each one of those roles holds the same level of value regardless of what your title is.

03:28 So from hierarchical microaggressions, elitism is born.

03:32 So that's another one of those isms that we need to get rid of.

03:36 Because again, a place cannot function effectively or be successful without every single human that works in that institution.