I heard Catarina Rivera about diversity, inclusion, and equity at UC Berkeley Haas School. Catarina gave lectures on diversity and founded her own company. She was diagnosed with progressive vision loss at age 17. Today she has greatly reduced vision but demonstrates a lot of resourcefulness in dealing with her challenges. Catarina is charismatic, has a proactive attitude, and is an inspiration for all of us, especially for people diagnosed with some disability.
Catarina offered us a broad perspective on the subject, showing several types of disabilities, some of which are not apparent. She drew attention to the fact that many people do not have access to a diagnosis or have a late or poorly accepted diagnosis. She presented data that showed that:
1 in 4 adults has some form of disability,
46% of people over 60 years old acquire some disability,
79% of professionals do not disclose their disabilities.
With that, she made it clear that this topic is an essential subject for everyone but that it has been largely neglected.
Catarina talked about the verbal microaggressions that are used in our daily lives. And it reminds us that disabilities are not a choice. Catarina said that she is not bothered, for example, by the term “blind spot in the rearview mirror”; still, she invited the participants to do some exercises to replace words that use blindness and other disabilities to designate something negative such as the expressions: blind with anger, blind obedience, blindness about a specific subject, showing that there are ways to express the same idea more respectfully.
For her, disability is seen by medicine in terms of healing and therapy; despite its importance, it can dehumanize the issue. For charities, its scope may be reduced to raising funds. However, we need to evolve on the social issue that would mean a change in the world to include all people. And she said a strong phrase: “We live in a society where people without disabilities are worth more.”
Today, organizations have been compelled to adhere to an ESG governance that includes an environmental, social, and corporate approach toward social objectives that go beyond the role of a corporation to maximize profits. We need to create organizational environments where people have psychological safety to be their authentic selves and internal policies that create conditions for everyone to offer their contribution. We will only have diverse and socially fairer companies where everyone is valued for their uniqueness.
What expressions have you used in your daily life without realizing it? What can you change to make it more respectful?
