Glossary
Within the diversity and inclusion space there are a range of acronyms and jargon. Our glossary is here to help you learn the terminology with ease.
Atheism
The disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods.
Agnostic
A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God.
Asexual
Refers to someone who has little or no sexual attraction or desire for sexual relationships.
Autism
Autism a neurological developmental disorder, characterised by repetitive patterns of behaviour and difficulties with social communication.
ADHD
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects the nervous system, including the brain, during development from childhood to adulthood.
Aromantic
Experiencing little or no romantic attraction to others and/or has a lack of interest in romantic relationships / behavior.
Cisgender
Cisgender people generally feel comfortable with the sex assigned to them at birth as it aligns with their internal sense of self.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the skills involved in accurate and fluent word reading and spelling.
Dyspraxia
Dyspraxia is a specific learning difficulty affecting coordination, movement, balance and organisation abilities.
Dyscalculia
Developmental Dyscalculia (DD) is a specific learning disorder that is characterised by impairments in learning basic arithmetic facts, processing numbers and performing accurate and fluent calculations.
Ethnicity
Ethnicity is a category that humans are often divided into based on cultural expression and identification.
Female
Category used to signify a particular set of chromosomes, genitals and hormones associated with being female.
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Gay
Refers to a man sexually and/or romantically attracted to other men or a woman who is sexually and/or romantically attracted to other women.
Heterosexual
Typically refers to a man sexually and/or romantically attracted to women or a woman sexually and/or romantically attracted to men.
Intersex
A term for a combination of chromosomes, gonads, hormones, internal sex organs, and genitals that differs from the two expected patterns of male or female.
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Lesbian
Typically refers to a woman sexually and/or romantically attracted to other women.
Minority Ethnic Community
This term refers to a group of people whose ethnicity differs from the majority ethnicity in the country in which they live.
Mono-sexual
Refers to people who are attracted to people of one gender only. For example, a straight man would be, for the most part, only attracted to women and therefore mono-sexual.
Man
A binary gender identity that includes cisgender and many trans people.
Male
Category used to signify a particular set of chromosomes, genitals and hormones associated with being male.
Non-binary
An umbrella term for gender identities that fall outside of the traditional binary of man or woman.
Neurodiversity
Neurodiversity describes the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways.
Non-theism
A range of both religious and non-religious attitudes characterised by the absence of espoused belief in a God or gods.
Obsessive Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD)
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours
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Religion
A belief in a god or gods and the activities that are connected with this belief, such as praying or worshipping in a building such as a church or temple.
Race
A category that humans are often divided into based on physical traits regarded as common among people of shared ancestry.
Sexual Orientation
Refers to a person’s sexual and/or romantic attraction to another person.
Transgender
An umbrella term for anyone whose sex assigned at birth and gender identity do not correspond in the expected way.
Trans*
Trans* with an asterisk is often used in written forms (not spoken) to indicate that you are referring to the larger group nature of the term, and specifically including non-binary identities, as well as transgender men (transmen) and transgender women (transwomen).
Transition/transitioning
Refers to the process of a transgender person changing aspects of themselves (e.g., their appearance, name, pronouns, or making physical changes to their body) to be more congruent with the gender they know themself to be.
Trans-man or a trans-woman
Trans-man or a trans-woman is someone who was not assigned that gender via sex at birth, and transitioned (socially, medically, and/or legally) from that assignment to their gender identity, signified by the second part of the term (i.e., -man, - woman).
Tourette Syndrome
Tourette Syndrome is an inherited, neurological condition, the key features of which are tics, involuntary and uncontrollable sounds and movements.