Any form of discrimination is never okay. Discrimination occurs when an individual or a group of people are treated less favourably than others based on a protected characteristic such as age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership (in employment), pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex or gender, sexual orientation.
If you think someone you know has been discriminated against, there are lots of ways in which you can help them.
Think
- What is discrimination? It might be useful to think about what constitutes unlawful discrimination.
Talk
- Listen. Just taking the time to listen to someone and talk about what has happened can help. These six active listening tips might help you support them. (Published on Oct 4, 2015 Based on the Samaritans guidelines for active listening.)
- Give options. When they have finished talking ask them if they are okay to talk through some possible options and next steps.
- USW Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Team. The University's EDI Team is happy to talk you through the University's procedures, how to make a complaint and what support is available, in confidence. EDI Team can be contacted via email equality@southwales.ac.uk
Report
- Report and Support. Students and staff can report an incident using the University’s Report and Support system. You can choose to do this anonymously or with your contact details to be contacted by an appropriate member of staff. If you choose to report with your contact details a member of staff can talk through the options and support available to you, in confidence.
Support
- As a student you can also reach out to our Wellbeing Service which offers a range of help and support. You can book an appointment with the Wellbeing Service, with a Wellbeing Adviser who can talk you through the support available.
- As a staff member you can access support via the Staff Support Scheme, your manager or HR via HR Business Partner hrbusinesspartner@southwales.ac.uk
- Seek External Support - There are a number of external specialist organisations that provide specialist support, including counselling. A list of organisations can be found here.
- Staff and Students can reach out to the University's EDI Team via equality@southwales.ac.uk; or to Dignity at Work and Study Advisors
- Staff can reach out to relevant Trade Unions (UCU, Unison and GMB)