1.5 Conclusion

In this chapter, we’ve explored a lot about ourselves. We hope the reflective exercises have given you new insight into how your social identities and experiences shape your social position (the power and privilege you hold) and your positionality (how these aspects of your identity influence your worldview).

You may wonder why all of this matters for your future profession. It’s important to remember that your professional lens isn’t neutral – it’s shaped by who you are and where you come from. Recognizing your positionality is a key step toward building more inclusive and equitable environments. This is because cultivating self-awareness and being willing to face discomfort, especially when uncovering your own hidden assumptions or unearned advantages, can help you interrupt harmful patterns and open you up to many ways of knowing, being, and working.

We also want to remember that our professions themselves are not neutral. As we’ll explore in the coming chapters, our professional practices and contexts are shaped by assumptions about how things should be done. One of the most pervasive assumptions in our professions relates to who gets to be knowledgeable.

In Chapter 2, we’ll begin this exploration by taking a closer look at how biases in Canadian society shape ideas about knowing and knowledge. As we shift from personal reflection to examining broader social dynamics, we’ll invite you to consider: Who do we, as a society, view as credible? Whose experiences are valued? And whose voices are missing from our classrooms, our research, and our clinical settings.