Pronoun drive changes health-care system
Garry Dart is a trailblazer for awareness in the workforce
May I ask what your pronouns are?
It’s a question commonly asked in modern Canadian society, yet many still struggle to adhere to the new social standard. Like many social norms, it takes time for the shift to happen widespread before becoming normalized.
Pridehealth co-ordinator Garry Dart (they/he/she) is a trailblazer in increasing awareness and education within professional industries and, more specifically, the healthcare sector. After reviewing the copious feedback regarding workers not having their pronouns asked or respected, Dart received approval to move forward with a pronouns campaign using the QE2 Comfort and Care grant.
More than 140 packages were sent to QE2 health centres, which included pronoun stickers for staff and patients, a two-pager with information about pronouns and examples, and posters for clinical and admin spaces.
“We’ve had incredible feedback
from staff and clients about having that visibility, having that in spaces and getting that information out. A lot of staff heard about the pronoun campaign and wanted more resources and training. So, we’ve added everything to our website,” says Dart.
Something as small as a poster or pronoun sticker may not seem like a big deal, but for some people, this tells them, “Oh, they know about pronouns because they have these posters, so clearly there is some education happening,” says Dart.
Dart says some of the feedback received was people saying, “I don’t use pronouns, that’s only for trans people,” when the truth is most people use pronouns. So, these packages share information on how to navigate these kinds of conversations when they arise.
A big part of campaigns like this is not only increasing awareness and normalization but also helping create actionable allies.
“We talk a lot about allyship, but that’s not really meaningful. But, when we talk about active allyship and accomplices, those are folks that are not only uplifting the community but also doing action and doing the work to make these spaces more affirming. This is one small way that people can start to be more inclusive, start to create spaces of belonging that can have deeper meaningful impacts, and start to have a lot of those difficult conversations in health care.”
Similar initiatives and expansion on the pronoun campaign are underway but are subject to funding and available resources.
“I see this as a start to a much larger systemic shift,” says Dart.