Diversity and Inclusion

I have been living in London for almost 10 years now and I love how diverse this city is. The capital city of England is definitely one of the most multicultural cities in the world. There are communities here from pretty much everywhere in the world. London is a world apart from my home town in Portugal, where immigrants were not common. I grow up in an environment where people from different cultural backgrounds used to be looked upon with suspicion.

Living in a city like London this has provided me with the opportunity to be friends with people of diverse cultures, perspectives and experiences about life. This is especially truth in my job as a nurse, either I am talking about my colleagues or the people I look after. The workforce of the NHS is extremely rich and diverse and we all work together with a common goal fostering relationships of respect and collaboration. The beauty about this experience is that it has helped me develop the capacity to operate in a very diverse community, learn to understand, respect and value people more. It has empowered my choice of living the culture of inclusion irrespective of who people are, where they come from, what they believe, or what they do.

What is diversity and Inclusion?

Diversity is quite a complex concept to try to put into words. I think it can be said that it reflects the entire spectrum of the differences that exists among humans beings across the world. Considering how the world is evolving due to the emergence of new knowledge and increase in self-awareness, diversity is no longer a concept that is limited to race and gender. I once read a blog post that the author considered the spectrum of diversity is so much broad nowadays that includes ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, generation, disability, personality types and thinking style. All of these contribute to weaving the culture, which a person expresses.

Inclusion on the other hand is providing an environment with a culture that makes everyone feel respected, valued, accepted and encouraged to freely participate in the community in which they are a part of. Being inclusive means creating an environment that makes people feel a sense of belonging and that allows them to be their authentic selves without inhibitions or fears. An inclusive environment is a place where everyone is encouraged, heard, valued and understood in order to meet their needs, no matter how different or similar they are.

When talking about diversity and inclusion in communities I think that there is one big barrier to achieve it. That barrier is unconscious bias.

Unconscious bias

Many people carry with them some level of biases, which they may have picked up because of their experiences, backgrounds, cultural/religious orientation or environment. These biases contribute to forming their values, beliefs and way of thinking. Until a person comes to a place of self-awareness so they can be conscious of what drives their decisions and the motives behind their actions, they may continue to relate with people from a position of unconscious bias, which will keep serving as a barrier to diversity and inclusion.

We must learn at all levels to support diversity and inclusion both as individuals and as communities and we can achieve that by following some practises:

1. We should learn to be aware of our unconscious biases and consciously overcome them when relating with people.
2. We should learn to live/work together with people who are different from us, learn to listen to and understand them.
3. We should create events within our communities that would bring everyone together. Encourage positive interaction within the community.
4. We must learn to consciously respect and value people of all backgrounds.
5. We should acknowledge holidays of different cultures.
6. We should always show empathy for others.
7. We should establish a sense of belonging for all.
8. We should minimize and contain the spread of rumours and fear in our communities.
9. We must offer consistent training on diversity and inclusion.
10. We must learn to communicate clearly. Poor communication can lead to misinterpretation that can be a barrier to diversity and inclusion.
11. We must learn to be a listening community. We listen to Understand.
12. Leaders across the community must learn to model diversity and inclusion.