Starting your disability inclusive culture as you mean to go on
When it comes to disability inclusion, it is important to have the right culture in place. This will enable organisational growth, a sense of belonging and true engagement and inclusion required for developing a disability inclusive culture.
Did you know, depending on where you look, it can take between 2 and 7 years to change a culture? Predominantly because when a culture is already embedded, it takes awhile for people to change behaviours, thought patterns and processes. Those inbuilt, systemic, learnt behaviours can be hard to break. However, whilst there are definitely no “quick fixes”, there are “quick wins” to make the journey a little less arduous.
Many organisations I work with through Celebrating Disability know that they want to be inclusive of disabled people and they want to develop the culture of inclusion for all, they’re just not sure where to start. The barrier that stops them knowing where to start is not really understanding why. Understanding why is the key fundamental to unlocking the how and the what. Because it’s how we drive forward as human beings to achieve anything. I know for a fact that I don’t do anything without a reason. When the reason is meaningful to me, it is sustainable and enjoyable to complete the tasks associated.
I used to run drama workshops for adults with learning disabilities. I really enjoyed the time I spent doing this. One thing I learnt very quickly was that that people need to be supported to understand why they would participate in such a workshop. For me, a person who is able to holistically think of the situation and the pros and cons of that situation, it was easy for me to think about why I was there and what I was getting out of it. But for the people I was working with, this was not as simple. Through a series of questions and answers and activities, we were able to work it out together. After we did this, everybody enjoyed themselves and participated because they knew why they were there. More importantly, everyone wanted to be there.
For individuals to understand their why is slightly different to organisations understanding their why. The former relies on one person making a decision. The latter relies on a community making a decision. This, understandably, has its own complications. Let’s explore some of the areas to consider:
Getting to grips with the fundamentals of your inclusive culture
There’s no point in doing anything unless you know why it needs to be done. As we have just explored. So, here are a few starter questions you may want to consider: Why is it important to be inclusive? Why do disabled people need to feel included? What are the ways that people don’t feel included? How are disabled people not included? What would need to happen for disabled people to feel included? What does this mean when disabled people don’t feel included?
Answering these questions will help you have a starting point.
Ensuring everyone can engage
Is not up to a small group of people to have all the answers. The more people involved in the conversation, the more representative of your community the outcome will be. The more stakeholders who can engage in the process, the more likely you will be to find a holistic solution that works for you, your organisation and other people interacting with your organisation. I.e., customers. Utilise many different tools and avenues to engage with as many people and stakeholders as possible. Celebrating Disability blogs cover many ways you can do this and many things you may like to think about. Try this blog and this blog for a start.
Removing systems that oppress
A person can only engage if they feel safe and welcomed to do so. For disability, a very simple visual representation of this is the following:
If a building has step free access meaning that a wheelchair user can enter but once inside the building, the staff and the other guests ignore that disabled person, then oppression has not been removed.
It is our responsibility as leaders and colleagues to support a disabled person to feel valued and included. How is your organisation supporting the celebration of difference and opinion?
A Self Assessment Solution
The Disability Inclusion ScoreCard is designed to help you consider where you are in your disability inclusion journey. By answering 20 easy to answer questions, you will receive an instant evaluation of where you are now and what the quick winds are for you to take your organisation to the next disability inclusion step.
Esi (rhymes with messy) set up Celebrating Disability in 2017; offering training, consulting and auditing to support businesses attract, engage and retain disabled people. Having the opportunity to support businesses to see the wealth of benefits that disabled people can bring to business, either as customers or employees is a privilege. She is passionate about disability equality and inclusion and loves nothing more than that “Ah ha” moment with a client when they see what disability equality and inclusion can do for them.
