#Weeknotes 54 (17 Nov) — Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) immersion week

My DEI highlights and takeaways

Work wise:

This week was light on project work which turned out to be quite timely as I was able to dedicate time to do some overdue self-learning. Something so important and yet so easy to put off. I was finally able to educate myself more on the topic of Diversity and Inclusion which I have a growing interest in. I was able to do this in 6 different ways through:

1. Attending talks at the Magnify Conference that promotes inclusive design;
2. Completing employee training on bias and diversity;
3. Listening to a webinar by Chikere Igbokwe, a DEI Leader and founder of Allyship.co.uk, on Allyship and how to take action;
4. Attending an open drop-in session organised by my organisation’s neurodiversity network and listening to the lived experiences of those who are neurodivergent and the tools they found helpful to work effectively;
5. Listening to an internal share out by one of our Chief Experience Officers, Nick Heckscher, on Improving Employment Outcomes for Autistic Talent;
6. Resuming reading Kat Holme’s book ‘Mismatch—How inclusion shapes design’

Other than the conference and Kat’s book, none of the others were planned. They all just happened within the same window of time in some strange and beautiful coincidence.

I want to share a bit of takeaways from my diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) immersion week.

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I was able to deepen my understanding of neurodiversity through Amy Mcguinness and Kirsten Jack’s Magnify talk:

• 15% of the population is neurodivergent. And yet mental health and education services are not designed for them
• Research has shown 3 things neurodivergent people need to thrive:
  1) Strong social networks that can provide support and understanding.
  2) Opportunities to pursue interests and strengths
  3) Tools to help stay emotionally and physically healthy
  I can’t help but notice how these areas feel universal to everyone. We can all thrive given a good support network, opportunities and guidance to emotional and physical wellbeing.
• Remote research can be quite advantageous if involving participants with neurodivergence as it can reduce barriers of transport, allowing participants to feel safe and comfortable in their own familiar environments etc)

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I gotta admit, I had low expectations of the employee training we had to do for work. It definitely felt more like a checkbox exercise than anything that may be useful or interesting. Like reading through a thick terms and conditions paper, I was dreading it. Instead, I was impressed by some of the training content, especially around Unconscious Biases and Equality and Diversity.

A lovely slide that beautifully defines the word “diversity” using all its characters.

• There are different forms of discrimination:
  1) Direct discrimination
  2) Indirect discrimination
  3) Associative discrimination
  4) Perception discrimination
• And diversity permeates across all areas

A slide showing what diversity is across areas of workforce, behaviour, structural, and business

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Chikere Igbokwe’s webinar on Allyship was simply inspiring. To be an ally means to actively engage in actions that challenge and dismantle oppressive systems and work towards creating a more equitable society. She talked about the importance of Allyship in creating inclusive workplaces and shared practical tips on how we can all become active and authentic allies. The talk also covered topics around:

• equity vs equality and that equity is what we should all strive for if we want a truly fair world and equal playing field;

• privilege, that privilege isn’t inherently bad, only by understanding and owning our privilege can we then use it for creating the change we want to see;

• microaggressions, which are subtle often unintentional, everyday acts of discrimination that communicate hostile, derogatory or negative messages to marginalised or unrepresented groups

• the importance of educating ourselves, acceptance and listening as an ally. That allyship is a never-ending journey (we’re all constantly learning, don’t feel afraid to make mistakes, take ownership and work together, no one knows all). Allies need allies. ❤

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Initially, when I saw the open drop-in session set up by our organisation’s Neurodiversity network, I wasn’t sure about attending. As someone who doesn’t identify herself as neurodivergent, I wasn’t sure if I would add any value or feel out of place. But I remembered Chikere’s emphasis on the importance of educating ourselves and decided to join in. And I am soooo glad I did.

There were over 70 attendees, all had their cameras off. Many of the members are neurodivergent with various diagnoses from ADD, autism, ADHD etc. It felt like a really safe space. There wasn’t much structure or agenda so the conversations just flowed in all directions. People openly shared what they’ve been struggling with lately. Some shared how their family members experienced bias and neglect due to being neurodivergent. Some stories were quite hard to hear. People also shared some amazing resources which I will highlight here:

• There’s a website that introduces mindfulness and the 5–4–3–2–1 grounding activity. Grounding is a really good way of helping us to manage our emotions when we are feeling really overwhelmed but can also be used every day to help us regulate. A quick summary of that is when you’re feeling overwhelmed, do the grounding activity to re-orient yourself: Look at 5 things, feel 4 things you are experiencing, hear 3 things around you, notice 2 things you can smell, and focus on 1 thing you can taste. It’s about being in tune with our senses at that moment. This can also be done anytime, not just when we feel overwhelmed.
• AI Assistants like ChatGPT and Claude.ai can help shortcut the thinking process and also break down complexity. For example, if you have to read through a large amount of text that’s quite technical, you can ask the AI to break it down, summarise it in plain language; or rewrite emails in a friendlier tone, etc.
• Another AI tool is the GoblinTools which is a collection of small, simple, single-task tools, mostly designed to help neurodivergent people with tasks they find overwhelming or difficult. I didn’t know this existed and I feel the tool is great for everyone not just those who identify as neurodivergent.
• Another colleague shared an app called Modern Sam (currently in beta testing) being developed to gamify productivity AND self-care. It’s created by a UX designer dad with ADHD It looks really interesting and you can take a quiz and receive your class archetype. Mine is a Warrior.
• Someone shared the video Improving Employment Outcomes for Autistic Talent.mp4 which gives a great explanation of how the neuro brain works differently

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Nick Heckscher’s shareout on Improving Employment Outcomes for Autistic Talent was also brilliant:

• The autism spectrum isn’t linear. There’s as much diversity amongst autistic talent as there is amongst everyone else;
• Boys and men are more likely to be referred for diagnosis and get a diagnosis than girls or women;
• Autism can be a contradiction. It’s a condition that can be seen as a superpower and yet at the same time inhibit life outcomes for millions of people;
• Despite massive increases in awareness of autism and neurodiversity in general over the years, we still don’t really know what to do to improve employment outcomes;
• In the States, 35% of company founders identify themselves as dyslexic. Autistic students struggle with role models, they need to know people like them can succeed in the world. Historical figures such as Sir Isaac Newton and Mozart were believed to be autistic. Then there are those alive today like Elon Musk and Greta Thunberg who identified as neurodivergent on the autism spectrum.
• A good leader of an organisation recognises that there are some risks associated with diversifying the workforce, and that recruiting people who think differently kind of consciously creates disharmony in parts of the organisation or management teams. But in order to do things differently, and be radically, it would require new ways of thinking. To create mutual benefit for employers and autistic talent, we need to design roles to allow people to play at their peak and design teams to support people with their challenges.
• While there are those who have a diagnosis of autism, many may not disclose it to their organisation for various reasons. In addition, there are even more people out there who are unaware of their situation and therefore wouldn’t think to disclose. The challenge to employers is that we have to come up with an inclusive culture where disclosure doesn’t matter because one can be oneself and ask for help and reasonable adjustments irrespective of a diagnostic label.
• What works for autistic talent is actually a great template for wider inclusion. Working with autistic talent just requires one to follow good management principles even more rigorously. Brilliant.

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Last but not least, highlights from my reading of the book ‘Mismatch’ so far:

• Designing for inclusion starts with recognising exclusion.
• Core elements of our identities are formed by our encounters with inclusion and exclusion. We decide where we belong and where we are outsiders. It shapes our sense of value and what we believe we can contribute. Exclusion, and the social rejection that often accompanies it, are universal human experiences. We all know how it feels when we don’t fit in.
• There are 3 fears of inclusion:
  1) Inclusion isn’t nice. It’s challenging the status quo and fighting for hard-won victories. Words hold a power to facilitate or freeze progress toward inclusion. Without a shared language, teams struggle to produce tangible results. Sometimes we will use words that hurt people. What matters most is what we do next.
  2) Inclusion is imperfect-the second fear is getting it wrong. You will likely never achieve a perfectly universal solution that works for everyone in every situation. The common concern of designers is being forced to create a lowest common denominator design. Trying to please everyone is good for no one. There is no single answer that suits everyone. Accessible solutions are always, inevitably, accessible to some, but not all people.
  3) Inclusion is ongoing-the fear of scarcity. The work of inclusion is never done. It’s like caring for your teeth, there is no finish line. With inclusion, each time we create a new solution, It requires careful attention in its initial design and maintenance over time.
• Exclusion isn’t inherently bad, nor inclusion, inherently good. But in a society, that sets goals, such as a constitutional promise of equal rights and opportunity, barriers to that equality are problematic.
• When we say that we’re committed to inclusion, it’s like declaring that we’ll learn a new language. We start the next day full of enthusiasm and optimism, but become quickly aware of our huge gap in expertise. Learning a new language can take planning, training, and determination. But above all, it means engaging with people who are native in the new language you want to learn. To gain fluency, you will need to change aspects of your routine and adjust some of the elements of your life to support your new goal.

Through all this learning around diversity and inclusion, I’ve become more and more convinced that if we are able to create and design environments to better support neurodivergence, we are effectively building sustainable environments that allow every one of us to thrive. Neurodivergent or not.

And ultimately, if we want to radically tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues, we need to seek out different ways of thinking.

This journey into inclusion is definitely something I want to be part of and continue to pursue and support.

Life wise:

An interesting conversation came up at the dinner table yesterday. My partner’s older 13yo son shared that he suspects he has ADHD. Not sure what triggered this subject and he was definitely not informed about my immersion week. My instinct was to immediately respond with, “No you don’t. You’re just showing symptoms of a typical teenager (e.g. having difficulty staying still, fidgeting, often forgetting things, can’t stand boredom etc)”. But if I learned anything up to this point, it is that I don’t know enough about this area.

Rather than confirming or denying, I shared with him some resources where he can read up about neurodiversity to learn more about it if he’s curious. The response was quite positive. I will definitely follow up with him.

Things I came across:

I took a day off this week to meet up with a couple of good friends from Vancouver, Canada, who are taking a holiday in Europe. I chauffeured them around London exploring the city by foot. It was a bit like the blind leading the blind as I wasn’t a great tour guide. While I’ve been living in London for nearly 7 years, my knowledge of the city is still quite limited.

Nonetheless, the weather was merciful and we had a good time exploring the areas of Notting Hill and then Soho. Though I’ve been to most of the places before, it was a nice refresh. It was also nice that the usual busy spots were calmer as it was a Monday.

Throughout the day I also took photos of interesting things we came across:

• A mailbox covered in a beautiful crochet hat. I did a web search on this and it seems to be a thing.

• Smiley stickers on the priority seating sign on the tube. Perhaps it’ll make more people pay attention… or the opposite?

Menu ‘board’ of Buns from home

• The buns from buns from home were really yummy. However, I was quite disappointed at how illegible their menu was. If someone like me with no visual impairments struggles to read this, how does it even work for others? It definitely doesn’t.