Identity

What is identity?

Your identity is the unique things about you that make you who you are. Identity can mean different things to different people. It might be about your social circle, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, where you live, what music you listen to, religion, or just feeling like you don’t fit in.  Simply put your identity is ‘who you are.’

However, being ‘who you are’ can sometimes feel confusing and this might make you to feel lonely or isolated. It’s easy to think everyone knows exactly who they are and feels like they fit in but even the most talented and successful people sometimes feel different and unsure. If you talk to your friends and family, you’ll find most people feel different in some way at some point in their lives.

Discrimination

There are three types of discrimination: direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and discrimination based on disability. Find out more about the different types of discrimination

It’s often easy to recognise when someone is directly discriminating against you. Having a disability, being a person of colour or being part of the LGBTQ+ community does not mean you will definitely experience discrimination.

A lot of discrimination though, like institutional racism, is harder to see.  The experiences you have of being disadvantaged or treated differently from others can make you feel like you’re not important or don’t fit in.

You might feel upset, depressed or angry. It might make you feel like you want to change the way you look or act and feel ashamed of your identity.

Sometimes you might feel able to challenge systems and people don’t treat you equally because of your identity, and sometimes you might not. If you are being discriminated against talk to someone you trust about what’s happening.

Your right to be you is protected by law

You might have heard of protected characteristics, these are:

• age
• gender reassignment
• marriage or civil partnership status
• being pregnant or on maternity leave
• disability 
• race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
• religion or belief
• sex
• sexual orientation.

The Equality Act 2010 is a law that protects people with protected characteristics from discrimination (i.e. being treated unfairly for being different).

It is important to recognise and celebrate our differences. The world is made up of so many diverse identities and we grow together by better understanding the beauty of ourselves and others.