Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This weeks topic was very interest and it made me aware of what was being said around me more than usual.  The example that was brought to my attention this week was when a coworker tried to make joke about two women going down the hall but failed.  The two ladies were a little larger in stature and she said "isn't that cute a pregnant women pushing a pregnant woman in a wheelchair." Neither of the woman were actually pregnant.  My coworker assumed that since both women were a bit overweight that they were both pregnant.  She insulted both women and was told by a director that she needs to be more careful about her comments around patients.  And that women especially are self conscious about their weight and that is a topic that should not be brought up because we do not know what the person is dealing with.  This event does not fall under race, gender or any of the other topics covered this week but I feel that it could have come off as funny or insulting without the intention to hurt the women.

With the information from this week it makes me angry to know so many people do not think before opening their mouths.  And most of the time do not realized how painful comments they make could be to someone else.  I know how it feels to be different and looked at differently because of my differences.  It is very hard to watch others get hurt.  When working with children observation of the children's feelings are vital to protecting the children as much as possible.  Children are mean to each other and educators can not protect them the entire day.  This is where I feel teaching the children about differences and that no one should judge another from an early age so that they can be aware of how others can be hurt.