I was recently involved in a flurry of emails which involved the change of signage for an organization in the US. Being part of their advisory team for Diversity and Inclusion, I understood the need for a proactive way of inclusion based on signage for restrooms.
The discussion brief was – “Many individuals from younger generations do not want to identify with the limitations of male or female. College and Universities are on the leading edge of this movement - supporting students growing in numbers of both LGBT+ and non binary students who prefer the pronoun "they/them."
Gender equality and inclusion based on sexuality are some of the contemporary examples where the principles of equity and inclusion are invoked. There have been other struggles in the past where there has been a curb on the expression of freedom for different individuals on the basis of money, gender, race, color, religion, nationality, etc.
As per my understanding, the challenge arises where what is natural to one may not be to the other. The problem deepens when a group tries to make the other group conform to its ideology or that of the society of how things should be. This kind of suppression has led to many a movement as the group brings to light their reality being different from others and tries to uphold it even if others can’t accept it.
Yet, people change the way they feel or think about things. This happens as their awareness develops and they are able to appreciate a perspective different than their own. Though the change is often initiated by external stimuli, the acceptance or the shift in the consciousness of the individual is always internal.
One of the things for leaders, organizations and governments is then to accomplish the task of allowing people to be natural so that the acceptance can grow more organically. The way to do so is to proactively take initiatives like the signage example above to bring some balance to the non inclusion of the past.
For individuals like me, the need is to look within if I find that I am questioning someone’s normalcy, then identify the underlying reason and try to see if I can accept it.
What biases do you think you have not been able to accept?
Who you need to include in your sphere of normalcy to embrace them whole heartedly?
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