Welcome to FAACT's DEI Resource Center

The world we live in continues to change. Whether you’re talking with someone about physical health, mental health, family structure, pronouns, religion, or cultural traditions, it can be hard to keep up with what is or is not the right thing to say. Most people are well-intentioned. However, without someone to help us all navigate the current landscape, it can be easy to say something hurtful, despite our good intentions. Many things that were seemingly acceptable in the past simply aren’t acceptable at all, so a course correction is in order.  

FAACT has always strived to be inclusive. Yet in 2022, we knew that more robust support of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives was required to strengthen our goals to help the community. We know that it takes more than just recognizing that people have food allergies. We need increased awareness, outreach, and food allergy education. We also looked at something called intersectionality, which reminds us that people living with food allergies are not one-dimensional beings, and to be truly inclusive, we must look at the whole person.

Our community consists of people similar and different in terms of religion, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, socioeconomic status, mental and physical abilities, parental status, occupation, and language. To openly discuss these differences allows us to not only see people for who they are and what matters most to them but to also learn how our friends and community experience life. It is through these unique life experiences that we see the whole person – not just the part of them with a health condition.

It is also important to understand how different cultures view healthcare and economic conditions, particularly given that socioeconomics may unfairly skew resources or services in favor of one community over another. It is critical to know what families (and persons) who were once considered non-traditional need to make them feel included because ALL FAMILY structures are today’s norm!

FAACT’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resource Center is intended to help support every part of our community. In this resource center, you will find information for support groups, ideas to assist healthcare professionals, and exercises to help us all grow our thinking in more inclusive ways. We have included book lists covering various dimensions for children, caregivers, students, and educators. Many documents in the resource center are downloadable. Once you click into an item, if it is downloadable, you will see the link listed at the bottom. We will continue to add materials to our resource center that are instructional, recreational, and informative. Finally, we value fair and inclusive input from our community and look forward to continuing to provide expanded programming that supports everyone as we continue to grow and learn with you.

Contact Aleasa Word, FAACT’s Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, to share thoughts and provide any feedback. Thank you.