What Are Your Pronouns? CSD Faculty Members Share Theirs

“Good morning, boys and girls!” “Hello, ladies and gentlemen.” It might surprise you to learn these common greetings can be exclusionary—or a microaggression—for people in the LGBTQ+ community. As a cisgender communication sciences and disorders (CSD) faculty, we learned from our students and colleagues how simply changing the language we use to address people creates a more inclusive environment. What’s the big deal about pronouns? No one set of pronouns fits all. It’s impossible to know what pronoun a person uses without asking them. As speech-language pathologists, we understand the value of pronouns to each individual, as well as how to correctly use them. Using someone’s personal gender pronoun is a vital step toward inclusion. The binary pronouns are she/her/hers and he/him/his. Non-gender-specific singular pronouns include they/them/theirs or ze/hir/hirs. Misgendering occurs when referring to a person using a word, most likely a pronoun, that does not reflect the gender with which they identify. This occurs intentionally or unintentionally. Misgendering can cause feelings of disrespect, invalidation, or even invisibility.   A senior undergraduate student in our department described their experience of being misgendered: I use “they/them/theirs” pronouns because those pronouns feel comfortable to me. I feel like those words accurately describe who I am, and when my pronouns are not used I feel like I’m not seen. It takes immense bravery...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Academia & Research Audiology Slider Speech-Language Pathology Professional Development Source Type: blogs