Cultural Awareness & Empathy
- Cultural Agility – The ability to work effectively and respectfully in culturally diverse settings, adapting with humility and empathy.
- Cultural Intelligenc (CQ) – Your capability to function and relate effectively across cultures. It includes cultural knowledge, strategy, and adaptability.
- Code-Switching – Adjusting one’s language, tone, behavior, or appearance in different cultural or social settings, often for survival or safety.
- Cultural Competence – The ability to understand, respect, and appropriately respond to the cultural contexts of others, particularly in professional or care settings.
- Cultural Humility – A lifelong commitment to self-evaluation and self-critique, recognizing the limits of one’s own knowledge and the value of others’ lived experiences.
Bias, Prejudice & Discrimination
Implicit Bias
Explicit Bias
Microaggressions
Systemic Discrimination
Cultural Stereotypes
Prejudice
Racialized Outcomes
Veterinary Care & Social Context
Access to Care
The ability of individuals or communities to obtain necessary veterinary services, regardless of cost, language, location, or cultural barriers.
Gold Standard Care
The highest level of veterinary care available, often involving comprehensive diagnostics and treatments. While ideal, it is not always financially or culturally accessible to all clients.
Incremental Care
An approach that provides stepwise or phased treatment options, allowing families to make informed decisions within their financial and logistical capacity.
Client-Centered Care
A model of care that prioritizes the values, preferences, and realities of the pet owner while still advocating for the animal’s well-being.
Veterinary Social Work
A specialty that supports the human needs involved in animal care, including grief, crisis support, resource navigation, and ethical decision-making.
One Health
The concept that human health, animal health, and environmental health are deeply interconnected and must be addressed together.
Justice, Equity & Identity
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DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion)
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Diversity refers to the presence of differences.
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Equity means fairness and justice in access and outcomes, not sameness.
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Inclusion is the active, intentional effort to ensure all voices are welcomed and valued.
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Belonging – The feeling of being accepted and valued for who you are, especially in spaces where your identity has historically been marginalized.
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Intersectionality – The idea that people hold multiple identities (e.g., race, gender, class, disability) that intersect and impact how they experience systems of privilege or oppression.
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Decolonizing Animal Welfare – Re-examining the field of animal welfare to remove colonial mindsets, honor Indigenous and global knowledge, and uplift non-Western models of care and relationship.
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Marginalized Communities – Groups of people who have historically been excluded from power, resources, or recognition in society due to race, ethnicity, income, disability, sexual orientation, or other identities.
Words That Invite Reflection
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Lived Experience – The firsthand, personal knowledge a person has from navigating the world in their identity or circumstances.
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Privilege – Unearned advantages a person may have due to their identity (e.g., whiteness, wealth, citizenship) that often go unnoticed by those who benefit from them.
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Allyship – The ongoing process of using one’s position or privilege to support and advocate for marginalized communities.
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Tokenism – The act of making a symbolic effort to include underrepresented groups, often without meaningful inclusion, power, or change.
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Performative Allyship – Public displays of support for a cause or community that lack real commitment, follow-through, or impact.