Inclusivity
My perspectives on inclusivity in systems change practice as an autistic practitioner.
Framing my positionality
First up. I am a white, Irish, autistic woman. Some of these descriptors come with great privilege and power attached. Others with distinct disadvantages and prejudice. In approaching writing about inclusivity I do so knowing my experience doesn’t represent all white people, all Irish people, all women and definitely not all autistic people. I also hold my hand up and say I haven’t always got the balance right when advocating for others with whom I do not share the same race, ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation and social status*. I look back and shudder when I recognise shades of white saviour complex that shaped how I reacted in certain situations.
Today and everyday I try to become more aware of my power and privilege and understand moments when it’s not my place to use my voice (inadvertently drowning other’s out), while also identifying moments to use my privilege to become a better advocate for people who share some of my characteristics, and a better ally to those who don’t.
What’s in a word?
In preparing to write this I’ve gone back and forth about my choice of title for this piece. In a world full of words like diversity, inclusion, equality and equity I find myself confused by the boundaries between these concepts. What I’ve landed on is that the word ‘inclusivity’ at least conjures up the idea of including everyone, in building towards a future for all. It’s not perfect, but I think it’s the right container for these thoughts.
Equality v Equity
Looking back, my engagement with these concepts is tangled up in my early childhood experiences. I was brought up in a household of four kids, all girls. With limited resources at their disposal, my parents became dogmatic about treating all of us the same. As third in line, I simply inherited a lot of parenting practices and decisions that had been made for my older sisters. Knowing now that I am autistic I understand why, inevitably, much of what I experienced growing up simply wasn’t the right fit for me. Yet I can’t fault my parents approach — equality is a good thing, right?
Enter ‘equity’ which is the most useful frame for unpacking my childhood experiences. In an equity-oriented paradigm it is understood that all in life is not equal. Some people are born with more than others — be that money, influence or simply the capacity to exist within the normal distribution of standard deviation. Equity recognises we cannot assume everyone has the same starting point and therefor, treating people in an identical way erases individual needs. Equity acknowledges that we are not all born equal and some people need more support, access, tools etc. than others to truly level the playing field.
For me inclusivity as a concept only works if equity is at its core. It’s in this context that I say we need to build inclusive systems and practices that invite everyone in and give them the tools and nourishment they need to participate, contribute and be heard.
Inclusivity in systems change practice
In my local context, I have seen first hand how an inclusive approach to recruitment and leadership can transform an area of work. In my current role I lead a diverse team of twelve inspiring people. Building and sustaining this team over a period of three years, and fostering inclusivity in an, at times, uncompromising and unaccommodating system has been the area I have most consistently (and previously unknowingly) applied systems thinking. My attempts to influence at different levels, identify leverage points and find ways to initiate small actions that ripple out to influence wider systemic change have frequently felt all-consuming. I have not always been successful. I have often met resistance. But I have also witnessed positive transformations that comfort me in those lonely moments when I feel like I’m the only person who sees how important this work is.
To honour the diversity of my team I lead and manage from a place of compassion, creating space for the life-wide experiences of each individual and responding to their needs in an equitable way. It is utterly exhausting and yet I’m convinced now, more than ever, that this is important work. This is me, living my values.
The reward is in seeing how these changes and practices, that were initially met with the hard edge of resistance, are now starting to almost imperceptibly become diffuse in other teams and interconnected systems.
Social justice and my autistic identity
In reflecting on and writing about inclusivity I have also been considering my lifelong fixation on social justice. In my childhood it manifest as a rigid fixation on rules and later on as an obsession with fairness. I’m now learning through others’ accounts and anecdotal evidence that working with and within a social justice paradigm is prevalent within the autistic community. In my case I wonder whether I’m drawn to social justice because I have found myself erased and marginalised in so many spaces? Perhaps this compels me to use the power I possess to support others who are similarly marginalised.
Our responsibility as systems change practitioners
Whatever my motivations I firmly believe systems change practice needs to be inclusive at its core. Homogenous groups diagnosing complex systemic problems, produce homogenous solutions that actively exclude marginalised groups - sometimes even when the solutions are designed to overcome challenges experienced by these very groups.
There is a phrase from wider disability discourse that I’m carrying with me on my path to uncovering my autistic identity:
“Nothing about us, without us.”
This echoes around my head and cuts to the core of everything I value in systems thinking. We need to solve problems from a place of deep knowing, open questioning and meaningful perspective-taking. To do this our practice must, at its core, be inclusive.
Interested in knowing more?
This is part of a series that I’m writing following on from my Basecamp journey with School of System Change. I recently published my introduction to this series entitled Unpacking the system of the self alongside Part I about Patterns , Part II about Complexity and Part III about Chaos. Over the coming weeks I’ll explore one final aspect of my autistic self that lends itself well to systems thinking. Follow and subscribe to keep up-to-date as I dive into the final topic:
| sense-making |
You can also click through the image below to access a visual map of this journey.
*I acknowledge that this list of potentially marginalising characteristics is incomplete. My intention is to be succinct, not to erase the experiences of other groups.
