Cultural Competency Review
I refer to my Cultural Sensitivity Reading service as Cultural Competency Review in part to avoid the stigmatization associated with the term "sensitivity" and because you are not hiring me simply because I am sensitive to cultures, but because I am competent in them. In this service, I will read your manuscript carefully, and provide multiculturally responsive feedback. I will not censor you; I will respect your originality and intentions as I inform how your work can be further improved so it is realistic and inclusive of people from diverse backgrounds. This broadens your novel's ability to touch hearts, which drives sales, good reviews, and overall success. Unlike sensitivity reads offered elsewhere, this is not just about making your work free of offensive material or harmful stereotypes that damage a novel's ability to connect with a broad audience. This is also about making your manuscript feel knowledgeable and genuine so readers are more likely to enjoy the experience.
Areas of Competency
Lived, educational, & vocational experience:
LGBTQ+ (especially gay, intersex, transgender, non-binary, gender fluid, & gender-nonconforming) Disability (invisible, mental, & physical) Food, home, and income insecurity Violence (sexual, physical, verbal, racist, transphobic, homophobic, self-harm, incestuous rape, incest pregnancy, suicide, domestic abuse, coercive control) Child abuse, neglect, molestation Underage, unwanted, incest pregnancy Drug & alcohol abuse Drug trafficking (marijuana, while it was illegal) Online sex work (pornography) Miscarriage Depression Survivor PTSD Minority Religion (Baha'i)
Educational & vocational experience only:
Race Ethnicity Fat/size Deafness/hard of hearing Incarceration, formerly incarcerated Child abandonment Foster care Sex trafficking (prostitution) Immigration, undocumented
Genres & Rates
Genres Accepted:
-
All genres, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, hybrid, picture books, YA.
Rate:
$0.01 per word ($150 minimum).
Education & Experience
I will provide you with suggestions that stem from my six years of professional development and vocational experience in the disability community at Fresno City College, my education and volunteer experience in anti-racism within the community college setting, and my five years as the lead cultural competency trainer for the LGBTQ Safe Space Ally and also Transgender Ally workshops at Fresno City College. Thanks to my educational and vocational background, I am trained in (and regularly re-educate myself in) anti-racism, accessibility, and disability etiquette. I have hands-on experience with people with various mental, learning, and physical disabilities (including the deaf and hard of hearing community), and I have a beginner's understanding of ASL. I also possess lived experience as a queer man who is married to a multiracial Black, Indigenous person of color. I also happen to be transgender and also non-binary, invisibly disabled, initially rejected by some of my family after coming out as transgender, and I transitioned with limited financial means and limited emotional support. I have experienced poverty, food insecurity, homelessness, the sex work industry, and the drug trafficking industry. I have previously abused drugs and alcohol, self-harmed, attempted suicide multiple times, and I have survived violence including verbal and physical queerphobic violence, domestic abuse and coercive control, and physical and psychological abuse in childhood, including incestuous rape from age four through eleven, incestuous pregnancy at age eleven, and date rape during adolescence.
Disclaimers
Though I have studied critical race theory, the different race-specific avenues of racism, structured (systemic) racism, stereotype threats, and subconscious (implicit) bias versus conscious (explicit) bias, have listened to the experiences of people of color, and have witnessed firsthand racist treatment of my partner by medical professionals, law enforcement, and even ordinary citizens, nothing can replace or substitute the firsthand lived experiences and perspectives of people of color. If your work is told firsthand from the perspective of a person of color, I can certainly assist you, but I would also strongly recommend finding a supplemental sensitivity reader who can read your book from the perspective of someone of the same race, location, age, ability, and citizenship status as your protagonist. The same suggestion goes for everything else listened under "Educational & vocational experience only." ​ I am only a single human being and no person can thoroughly represent the knowledge and perspectives of all members of any community. There are also disagreements and contention over every concept within every cultural community, making it impossible to present a single perspective that everyone from the same community will agree with. A cultural competency review does not result in a manuscript everyone will fully agree with or relate to; it can only result in a more competent and understanding one. That said, I can promise more thorough assistance and a more multi-culturally competent read than you will find anywhere else, all at the same standard going rate of $0.01 per word.
How It Works
SUBmit
Send your manuscript as a Word (.doc or .docx) document to me at arienreedart@gmail.com with your requested service stated in the subject of the email (ie, "Cultural Competency Review").