Schaumburg is revising language of village code to be more socially acceptable

Schaumburg trustees Tuesday took the first step in an expected five-part process this year to revise the language in the village code to make it more socially acceptable, modern and inclusive.

The first section of the code to be covered, which includes the job descriptions and responsibilities of many village officials, was rife with male pronouns. In all cases, these were replaced with either gender-neutral plural pronouns like "they" and "their" or a simple restatement of the position title.

Though this was the most common change among the 57 revisions, there were several other types. For example, the words "invalid" and "incompetent" to describe village residents in need of additional assistance were replaced with "disabled."

The section prohibiting discrimination in appointments already mentioned the categories of race, sex, religion and national origin, but the approved revision adds sexual orientation and disability.

Allison Albrecht, the village's director of communications and outreach, said similar changes are anticipated for the remaining four sections of the code.

She explained the motivation to longer abide by the outdated language.

"Our code has been drafted over the course of 66 years, and in reading through it, staff identified a handful of processes that were drafted in the 1960s and 1970s that were outdated or no longer followed," Albrecht said.

"In identifying these processes, we also found areas to modify language to better reflect the times we live in today."

She added that the results of the village's recent National Community Survey indicated that diversity and inclusion are important to today's residents.

"The village is continuing to work on several initiatives related to diversity, equity and inclusion to help foster a welcoming, inclusive environment for the public that we serve," Albrecht said. "This includes reviewing the ways we communicate with the public and language that is used in village communications.

"It is important that we review our municipal code to ensure it includes language that is accurate of processes in use today and reflective of current society."