About Existing D&I Programmes & Models:
- Existing D&I strategies are perpetuating the very systems that lead to income and wealth inequality and environmental degradation.
- Most D&I programmes still focus on minority faces from mainstream establishment educational backgrounds (e.g. Russell Group Universities), and are designed to train outsiders to "be more insider".
- The "invisible others" - those who are culturally and intellectually different and have survived extreme challenges (e.g. dyslexic, autistic, chronic illness sufferers, refugees) - are still not given a voice and are, to a great extent, excluded from leadership positions.
About Ourselves:
- Our audience in the room will not be very diverse! However, table members accept that D&I is not about women acting like men or POC (people of colour) acting like white people.
- All table members believe that D&I is unquestionably a good thing which could perhaps be better executed.
- We may struggle or be uncomfortable with using D&I as a step towards a new and different economic model. There may be some concerns that this is too much of a threat to the status quo, and may have a negative impact on D&I by turning the establishment against it.
- It may be difficult for some of us to know how to start a conversation about this with those who are different from us. We may fear being seen as patronising, insensitive or ill-informed.
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INPUT REQUEST #4: Assumptions
- Which assumptions are unclear to you?
- Which assumptions do you strongly disagree with?
- What assumptions do you think should be added to the list?