You get judged and someone's already formed an opinion of you before they even talk to you just because of what others, who may look or sound like you, have done. Doesn't really sound fair does it?

Of course, they must be influenced by a previous experience or something they've been told by multiple other people, who must also have had a similar experience. But doesn't make it true for all cases. 

I was lucky enough to volunteer with the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation (POWHF) last Saturday at their Stakes Day in Randwick Racecourse and it was quite an interesting experience. I got to see the races without looking too terribly out of place, because the demographic of people there were mainly Caucasian and of a mixed age group, all older than me - although there were for a few children running around with their parents nearby. 

Not a bad view (or weather) for POWHF Stakes Day at Randwick Racecourse.

Okay, we actually looked quite different because we were dressed in lab coats even though the majority of us aren't Medicine students.

The atmosphere was vibrant and classy (although the drinks and cigarettes came out later). Some of the ladies coming through the gates looked stunning, and everywhere you look you see men in suits - although I can't say all of them are wealthy because I met a lovely backpacker from Scotland. Some people were quite generous, some wanted photos (sometimes with my friend and I) and gave us donations after that. 

But there was one older man who was our last raffle ticket customer of the day. He seemed respectful and polite at first as we were selling him the tickets, but afterwards he started talking. He was literally stereotyping Asians and saying all Asians went to university to get degrees, had no social lives and ended up working in hospitals because their job WAS their life. What was worse was the way he shut down any notion of seeing the other side - that I was not a medical student. 

I clearly explained to him that I studied commerce and media (politely, of course) and all he said was that I would end up working in a hospital, before talking more about the number of Asian doctors in hospital. Yes, I understand that you may have found that a lot of doctors in hospitals are Asian (I cannot confirm nor deny this as I have no information) and we are both Asian university students dressed in lab coats for the cause, but it doesn't mean that all Asians are doctors and all Asians will study at university. It's just not true, even though a large proportion of Asians do end up pursuing tertiary education. I haven't been able to find statistics of the percentage of Asian doctors practicing in Australia (I apologise if I've used the wrong terminology) but if anyone does, leave me a link in the comments or tweet me!

Edit: According to BBC News Sydney's article, Young Asians make their mark on Australia, in 2012, 20% of all doctors were Asian and three out of every ten Asians go university in Australia. It's also an interesting read so check it out.
(Thanks Anthony!)

When he left, all the organisers I was with at the time all looked at each other with disgust and honestly, he was just racist. He was saying in front of my face as though I didn't matter. I just let it go, because the less I said the sooner he would head back to the races. 

I guess the point of this is to understand that even though we live in a multicultural society that promotes diversity and embraces cultural differences, there are still generational differences and it's very pronounced when you're put in environments that are frequented by a particular part of society who have been brought up in a certain environment (like being at the Races where most of the people there are Caucasian, with a lot of people who are still quite set in their old ways). Of course, there were some very lovely and respectful people there on Saturday, but it just sucks that there's a proportion of people who just see us as people who can't have the same abilities as they do and are clearly not happy with us being as capable as them.

However we all do this in different circumstances. Although stereotyping is something that we've all done (you'll be lying to yourself if you haven't at some point) and something that is quite difficult to avoid, we can always try.

Friends, try not to judge and stereotype when you meet someone - they might surprise you.

With love, Sarah x