Assumptions duckie, are the velvet gloves that hide the iron fists of error. We make them quickly, often with the best intentions, and they lead us straight into the lion’s mouth. Let me walk you through a few examples.
There was a case in medicine where a woman came in with chest pain. The doctor assumed it was anxiety—she was young, female, not the “typical” heart attack candidate. They didn’t run the tests. She died. That assumption, that profile, cost her everything.
In law enforcement, we’ve seen it time and again. A man pulled over because he “looked suspicious.” No crime, no evidence, just a gut feeling and a profile. He was arrested, humiliated, and later released. But the damage was done. His dignity, his trust in the system—shattered.
Recruitment is another battlefield. A CV with a foreign-sounding name gets tossed aside. The candidate might have been brilliant, but the recruiter assumed they wouldn’t “fit.” No interview, no chance. Just a silent rejection based on nothing but a name.
In schools, children from certain postcodes are placed in lower sets. Teachers assume they won’t cope with advanced material. No one asks about their home life, their resilience, their dreams. They’re boxed in before they’ve even begun.
And in social services, a mother seeking help is profiled as manipulative for asking why her son has a disability. She’s questioned, doubted, denied.
No one asks about her trauma, her history, her fight to survive. Just a tick-box form and a cold shoulder.
These are not stories from the shadows. They’re out there, in reports, in headlines, in the quiet corners of people’s lives.
Assumptions are not just lazy—they’re lethal. If you want to understand someone, you must ask, listen, and dig deep. Otherwise, you’re just dressing prejudice up in a lab coat or a uniform.
Liz Lucy Robillard
*Now, shall we act?
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