Debunking neuroinclusivity: Five public service expressions that need to be removed from our vocabulary

Anyone who has worked in government – ​​or watched the TV show Utopia – knows his love for jargon.

Pretentious, meaningless words are crucial in bureaucracies that have to pretend to do something they really don’t.

But lately I’ve noticed horrible statements about public affairs creeping into everyday discourse (sorry, I mean conversation. I’m guilty too).

We must stop this trend before it is too late.

Outside the gray box, there is never an excuse to use a big word when a diminutive would adequately convey its connotation.

Here are five terms that should be eradicated from the English language.

Give strength

There was once a time when it was enough to show or teach someone something.

But now we have to empower them. For example, the last wave of government reform is designed to “strengthen public service delivery and increase trust in Australia’s public sector institutions”.

Naturally, the bureaucracy likes such a term, because it helps mask the powerlessness of many civil servants and our declining confidence in institutions. But why do so many others use it?

Netball Australia recently issued a press release Saying that the sport allows girls to be strong and confident. The ABC has reported how ancient Asian music empowers children with visual impairments.

You’ll notice that the word is often used to describe what happens to women, people with disabilities, indigenous families and other racial minorities – which shows just how patronizing it is.

Seriously, just say “teach” and be done with it.

Neurodivergence

It’s probably wrong to talk about disability now, since neurodivergence is the popular buzz term.

But what exactly does neurodivergence mean? I know it’s used to describe people on the autism spectrum, but it seems like people with ADHD, dementia, and mental illness (diagnosed or undiagnosed) are sometimes included in the neurodivergent family.

Apparently the term explains that people’s brains work differently. But doesn’t this mean that we are all neurodivergent to some extent, rendering the word meaningless?

Worse, it has also spawned even more pretentious offshoots like neuro-inclusivity. Remove now.

Stakeholder involvement

We know that the government likes to talk about stakeholder engagement because it ’empowers’ people who participate in community consultation sessions, which it does not take seriously.

But the term has now infected rugby league. In July it was announced that Canberra Raiders legend Mal Meninga would do so back to the club to increase “stakeholder engagement”.

The Canterbury Bulldogs club even has appointed a general manager of stakeholder engagement, a job title that implies there are more paid positions to engage stakeholders.

What about if clubs use that money to recruit better players and continue to call us fans?

Workshop (as verb)

When I was growing up, the term workshop was a noun used to describe a factory-like environment where people built and repaired things using tools and machines.

But now it is often used in white-collar workplaces, universities and even social clubs – as a verb – to describe people who talk. That’s quite a leap.

Maybe people don’t want to say they’re just chatting because it sounds like they’re not really working. But from discussion to meeting to debate, there are more precise terms to use than a manufactured verb like workshop.

Keep it ‘at a high level’

I was invited to give a speech at a wedding a few months ago, but was told to “keep it at a high level.” Luckily I’d been in public before, so I knew what this meant: make it short and avoid details.

This phrase has always been useful for department meetings when I had to speak on a topic I didn’t understand, and no one else understood either. But it is very different from the conventional meaning of ‘high level’. The civil service used to be very confused when it came to ranking (for example, the most junior person in the office was given a title of ‘senior policy officer’).

Therefore, there is no need to use this misleading phrase outside your secluded office.

So let me keep it on a high note one last time, and ask all you neurodivergent stakeholders reading Region workshop with me on the need to debunk this sentence, and the four above it.