Mark Chamberlen - Business Coach Blog

‘Ski your own line but be mindful of others skiing the same race’

If I wind the clock back about 30 years, I find myself standing at the top of a Paralympic Downhill Ski Course.  I’m flexing toes in boots, the adrenalin is pumping.  I am on that knife-edge between excitement and utter terror.  Shortly I’ll be haring down the course at speeds in excess of 50km per hour, the wind will be in my face, and I won’t be able to see where I am going.  And this is my point!

My Paralympic days are behind me now, but I still enjoy a challenge.  I was brought up to believe that I was just the same as everyone else, and that my blindness was a difference, rather than a disability.

As a partially sighted 52 year old with in excess of 30 years commercial work experience, I have never felt any personal attachment, still less emotion about Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) where it pertained to me.  In many ways I never really considered myself to be in need of special consideration. I’m a practical soul and I just got on with life, and got on with it well.  I believe that my many and varied life experiences have given me insights that I’d like to share.

The bare fact of the matter is that with partial sight, allowances are required in terms of specialist technology to magnify and speak large documents.  Consideration needs to be given to the way I access the internet for research purposes, or corporate presentations, and thought has to be given to the way I digest information gathered over the internet through webcasts.  Similarly if you are leading a corporate presentation with the use of flip charts or overhead projectors, you may not be getting your case through effectively to someone like me.

The plain fact of the matter is that anything that impacts on ones’ ability to do a specific job of work should be taken into consideration in pursuit of relevant necessary adjustment.

And here’s where I think my story – and my strengths – can help throw light on this debate.

Diversity & Inclusion is a very poignant subject, but it means different things to different people.  Although I do not wish to undermine the contemporary standpoints of those championing issues such as gender equality, Equal opportunities for women or different ethnic groups, I do seek to point out that some of the practical considerations pertaining to the disability agenda are being swamped by the more emotive topics.

Some may look at it through the other end of the lens.  Diversity though valid could actually be limiting.  The very thing it seeks to promote may arguably work against it.  We are all different, could drawing attention to our individual difference be counter-productive, drawing attention to us when all we really want to feel is included, respected and dealt with in the same way as our peers, civilly in other words.

The debate will continue to evolve, motivated by a variety of points of view.  Although I am not trying to hijack the terminology in the name of disability, I do feel strongly that the ‘difference’ where it pertains to accessibility or overcoming pre-conceptions needs to be allowed to bubble to the surface.

Conclusion

Wherever your empathy with D&I originates, it will always be important to find ways of articulating it to others.  ‘For diversity, read difference:’ in my view, familiarisation through debate and positive interaction will always be the best ways to create a level playing field.  Let’s all play nicely together, let’s remove emotion and entitlement from our arguments.  Let’s not chastise others if they don’t know as much as we do, or as much as we think they should, because by doing that, we run the risk of alienating them, and therefore taking away their ability to feel comfortable asking questions.

When I started using a white stick, to help me navigate my way safely around commuter London in the dark, I had to keep reminding myself that it was noble, considerate and in some ways brave of total strangers to approach me and ask me if I needed help.  Whether the answer is yes or no, every time I get approached, it is beholden to me to ensure that my response is polite conclusive and informative, because in that moment I am an ambassador articulating difference.

The London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics did more for the cause of diversity in its original form than any other single event.  It managed to show case the participants primarily as athletes whatever their perceived disability.

Hold that thought, remember the image of Olympic athletes standing together brandishing their medals, and that should encourage you to that state of mind where you too can ‘normalise the difference’.