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Part III – Using an Interdisciplinary Approach to Combat Discrimination
Highlights:
- Public Health & Education Advisory Committees help us combat discrimination
- Raising Awareness, Art, & Discrimination: View the gallery exhibition
Interdisciplinary Approach: Public Health & Education
In 2012, two of ICAADs projects focused on the disparate impact of bullying and hate crimes on minority communities. Both projects benefitted from an interdisciplinary approach, using social science research and medical journals to assess the magnitude of harm that direct or indirect discrimination has on individuals throughout their lifetime.
For example, there are empirical medical studies that reveal that a person’ morbidity and mortality (how healthy and long a person will live) is significantly impacted by years of discrimination (e.g. lack of access to public services, employment, etc.). Current research on LGBT retirees shows that a lifetime of discrimination leads to increased suicide risk, anxiety, and depression.
Social science research also reveals how we, as a society, discount legal claims of discrimination because we are guided by meritocratic ideals that cut against the idea of differential treatment of minorities or disfavored groups.
Art raises awareness of the value of human dignity, a right that has been stripped for many of the world’s vulnerable populations. With one image, art can illuminate how systemic and embedded discrimination is in the very fabric of the political, cultural, economic, and legal systems of a State.
ICAAD recently took its first step, by hosting an gallery event in New York City, in developing a art and discrimination exhibition. In 2013, we will expand our artist base globally and host exhibitions in parts of the world where ICAAD is engaged in advocacy or litigation to raise awareness of the injustice vulnerable populations are facing.
ICAAD designed its model and mission to identify and address structural discrimination using an innovative interdisciplinary approach that empowers NGOs and the vulnerable populations they serve, through advocacy, education, and litigation.