My Fearless Futures Journey
My Fearless Futures Journey
I am the child of a first-generation immigrant. A person of an African, Asian, European & Middle Eastern descent. Someone who grew up surrounded by all backgrounds, where appreciation for different cultures came naturally. Growing up I never had to question the concept of inclusion or what it meant.
Coming from a primary school where every letter sent home would include translations into various languages. Where every culture was celebrated and embedded throughout our learnings and environments. It wasn’t until I moved out of London, at twelve, to a tiny village in Surrey where I realised not everyone was thought of, or even acknowledged. I moved to a tiny village in Surrey where nothing really existed. Trains weren’t accessible, neither was my school. There was a lot of racism and classism. We were the only non-white family in the village. It was like a bubble. Here we simply didn’t exist. The rest of my life has then been filled with observations. Attempting to understand the root of things, through questioning the whys and hows.
Eight months ago, I found myself somewhere that genuinely celebrates authenticity. Where there are no superficial conversations nor awkward silences, no reservations or presumptuous statements. A workplace where we all fearlessly work together, continuously supporting one another with everything society presents us with.
As some of you may know, I am the Community Coordinator at Fearless Futures. What that basically means is that I help to drive forward our community outreach and engage with new audiences through digital content creation, social media and weekly newsletters.
Something I find really fascinating about my role is how immensely it is affected by what is currently happening in the world around us and it’s speed. Every day I am met with new challenges and every evening I leave with new learnings. One that has stuck with me the most was developing my understanding of how we can challenge disableism in our communications — and implementing that not only into our work at Fearless Futures but also throughout my personal life. I frequently find myself deep into multiple tabs and windows of research to ensure we design for accessibility with everything we create. Now I understand how default features on social platforms can interfere with this and the ways to get around them to ensure all needs are always met. There are so many things I enjoy when it comes to working at Fearless Futures, but this is something I truly cherish. It’s not easy to find a workplace where you feel valued and still are able to experience growth daily.
On Monday, we had this beautifully thought-provoking virtual learning session with Lea and Stas from Spring Up (link opens in a new tab). The training was about generative conflict and accountability — and principles that support both to be lived in our workplaces. A session that has really stuck with me this week. Lea & Stas reminded me how important language is, not only to communicate with the world around us but to communicate with myself. I think that’s something so beautiful about working within this field. Everything that we do, all that is learnt, is relevant both professionally and personally. I can take my learnings on intersectionality to privilege to accessibility to equity (or everything else) and apply all of them into my life. Whether it’s work or personal, it doesn’t matter. The same principles apply and those principles will help me do the best I can for all around me.
Fearless Futures gives me hope. A daily reminder that we are working towards a society that believes in equity and understands the depth of intersectionality. Where there is always space for all, nothing is left unheard.
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If you would like to know more about Spring Up please click here (link opens in a new tab)
If you would like an introduction into Designing for Accessibility please click here (link opens in a new tab)
If you would like to find out more about Website and App Accessibility please click here (link opens in a new tab)
