It is an intended or accomplished differential treatment generally based on a range of grounds such as age, disabilities, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion, and socio-economic status (ILGA-Europe, 2015; American Psychological Association (APA), 2021; Heitmeyer and Salentin, 2023). Several forms of discrimination can be identified such as:
– Direct discrimination; occurs when an individual is treated less favourably on the basis of ‘protected grounds’ (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and Council of Europe, 2018)
– Indirect discrimination, as defined in the Art. 2(b) of Council Directive 2000/43/EC (Racial Equality Directive) “shall be taken to occur where an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice would put persons of a racial or ethnic origin at a particular disadvantage compared with other persons, unless that provision, criterion or practice is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary”;
– Experienced discrimination, describes the experience of being discriminated against, as subjective discrimination, that does not necessarily entail discrimination in the legal sense (ILGA-Europe, 2015);
– Statistical discrimination occurs “when distinctions are made between demographic groups based on aggregate characteristics rather than on an actor’s individual preference and prejudice” (Heitmeyer and Salentin, 2011).
From a design perspective, the design output can be proof of discrimination in a
discriminatory design process.
References
American Psychological Association (APA) (2021). Inclusive language guidelines. https://www.apa.org/about/apa/equity-diversity-inclusion/language-guidelines.pdf
Council Directive 2000/43/EC 29 June 2000 on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (OJ L 180, 19.7.2000 P. 0022–0026) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32000L0043&qid=1689234539696
European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights and Council of Europe (2018). Handbook on European non-discrimination law: 2018 edition. Publications Office of the European Union https://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/fra-2018-handbook-non-discrimination-law-2018_en.pdf
Heitmeyer, W., and Salentin, K. (2011). Discrimination. In B. Badie, D. Berg-Schlosser, L. Morlino (Eds.), International encyclopedia of political science. SAGE Publications.
Heitmeyer, W., and Salentin, K. (2023). Discrimination. Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/discrimination-society
ILGA-Europe (2015). Glossary. ILGA-Europe. https://www.ilga-europe.org/sites/default/files/glossary_october_2015_edition.pdf
