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Microinvalidations are characterized by interpersonal communications (both verbal and nonverbal) that exclude, negate, or nullify the psychological thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality of certain groups, such as people of color, women, and LGBTQ individuals. In many ways, microinvalidations may represent the most damaging form of the three microaggressions because they directly and insidiously deny one’s racial, gender, or sexual‐orientation reality. As we shall see in ssss1, the power to impose reality upon marginalized groups represents the ultimate form of oppression. Here we provide several examples of microinvalidation themes:

 Alien in one's own land. This theme involves being perceived as a perpetual foreigner in one's own country. Of all the groups toward which such microinvalidations are directed, Asian and Latinx Americans are most likely to experience them. When Asian Americans are complimented for speaking “good English” and persistently asked where they were born, the metacommunication is that “You are not American” or “You are a foreigner.” When Latinx Americans are told, “If you don't like it here, go back to Mexico,” there is an assumption that one's allegiance resides in another country. Interestingly, studies reveal that African Americans are perceived by the public as “more American” than either Asian or Latinx Americans (Devos & Banaji, 2005). Pérez Huber (2011) extended this theme to include racist nativist microaggressions (xenophobic beliefs about who belongs in the U.S.). She found that nativist microaggressions were institutionalized in K–12 education and targeted both U.S.‐born and undocumented Chicana students. Researchers in Canada uncovered a similar phenomenon among South Asian Canadian students who were perceived as “fresh off the boat” (Poolokasingham, Spanierman, Kleiman, & Houshmand, 2014).

 Color, gender, and sexual‐orientation blindness. Simply stated, being color, gender, or sexual‐orientation blind is being unwilling to acknowledge or admit to seeing race, gender, or sexual orientation and oppression based on these social group identities. Racial color‐blindness is one of the most frequently delivered microinvalidations toward people of color. Statements such as “When I look at you I don't see color,” “There is only one race, the human race,” “We are all Americans,” or “We are a melting pot” contain multiple and complex hidden messages. At one level they are messages asking the receiver not to bring the topic of race into the discussion or interaction. They are also messages that indicate people of color should assimilate and acculturate. On one hand these messages are intended as defensive maneuvers not to appear racist (Apfelbaum et al., 2008) and on the other hand they serve as a denial of the racial experiences of people of color (Bonilla‐Silva, 2006). D. W. Sue (2005) posits that denial of race is really a denial of differences. The denial of differences is really a denial of power and privilege. The denial of power and privilege is really a denial of personal benefits that accrue to certain privileged groups by virtue of inequities. The denial that we profit from racism is really a denial of responsibility for our racism. Lastly, the denial of our racism is really a denial of the necessity to take action against racism. Multiple research investigations have documented targets' experiences with racial color‐blindness (see the work of Neville et al., 2013), and several such experiences have been linked to harmful therapeutic practices (Mazzula & Nadal, 2015). Recent investigation has begun to examine “queer blindness” (see Smith & Shin, 2014). For example, Spengler, Miller, and Spengler (2016) described how therapists' avoidance of sexual‐minority issues during sessions may inadvertently invalidate clients' experiences.