What Is Inclusion?

Inclusion is the practice of including and accommodating people who often face discrimination and exclusion due to race, gender, ability, sexuality, or identity. In light of the current racial climate, many settings are becoming increasingly aware of their lack of diversity and representation. Such organizations have failed to represent people of all backgrounds, genders, etc. This has left the most oppressed folx feeling undervalued, ignored, erased, etc.

Defining Inclusion

Inclusion refers to "the act or practice of including and accommodating people who have historically been excluded (because of their race, gender, sexuality, or ability)."

While many organizations pride themselves on inclusion efforts, the reality is that the most oppressed people are often the ones with the greatest awareness of how much more work needs to be done in this regard. In fact, the most marginalized folx can help to show just how much an organization may lack inclusion and diversity.

Diversity vs. Inclusion

Despite often being used interchangeably, the terms diversity and inclusion indicate different efforts. Diversity efforts can often be focused on representation while inclusion practices tend to be more about how to help groups feel as if they belong.

In other words, inclusion involves more than just making sure that people are represented in a group. Instead, it refers to how diversity is utilized to create healthy, fair, and equitable spaces that help people to feel included and respected.

What Inclusion Looks Like In Different Environments

The practice of inclusivity can look different in various settings. Let's look at how we can promote and foster diversity and inclusion in the workplace and within the educational system.

Inclusivity In the Workplace

In their 2014 book, Diversity at Work, Bernardo M. Ferdman and Barbara R. Deane describe the practice of inclusion as key to investing in diversity at work. Ferdman and Deane have engaged in education, writing, and speaking on diversity and inclusion, especially as it pertains to leadership within organizations.

As with most important initiatives, inclusion requires a great deal of investment to come to fruition.

Inclusivity In Educational Systems

Educational systems are designed for dominant groups. For example, U.S. schools are designed for English-language speakers. Experts notes that while teaching English language is not a new concept, but it may require more transformational approaches to ensure that all groups are truly included. Small-scale efforts may not result in true inclusion.

In other words, it can be helpful to understand how educational systems were designed with the needs of the dominant groups in mind (i.e., those who are cisgender, straight, able-bodied, etc.) so they may need to be revolutionized. It means thinking critically about the ways in which learning spaces may fail to meet the needs of folx who are BlPOC, LGBTQIAP+, etc.

What Organizing Inclusion Means

From the preface of their 2020 book, Organizing Inclusion: Moving Diversity From Demographics To Communication Processes, authors Doerfel and Gibbs name the institutional biases of white supremacy, sexism, settler colonialism, homophobia, etc. which have contributed to inequitable outcomes within groups, organizations, and society itself.

In doing so, they make the case for why organizations must communicate differently if they are invested in inclusion efforts given how much of the status quo poses barriers.

In their work, these authors encourage communication that identifies the forces of oppression that can be insidious and require targeted efforts to combat.

Technology Also Presents Challenges

Technology inclusion can present challenges with some groups who may lack experience, training, and access to digital resources. For example, one study looked at the challenges and benefits of digital technology for seniors alongside its policy implications. It demonstrated how some individuals who were once included required additional outreach efforts to ensure accessibility, as all seniors did not necessarily learn how to make use of technological advances.

In this way, it is easy to see how a group may require additional considerations to maintain inclusion as they age while technology evolves beyond their typical use.

Folx With Disabilities Deserve Inclusion

Unfortunately, evidence suggests that inclusion efforts often fail to focus on people with disabilities. This is unfortunate because disabled folx are often sorely underrepresented in the workforce.

Researchers suggest that certain approaches can be helpful for increasing inclusion and addressing this equity gap. These include:

• Diversity and inclusion statements
• Employee resource groups
• Supplier diversity initiatives
• Targeted hiring and recruitment plans

With such evidence-based actions for the inclusion of folx with disabilities, organizations can take tangible steps to diversify their workforce.

For far too long, folx with disabilities have had to bear the burden of ableism at all levels of society.

If organizations are interested in inclusion, they could learn a great deal from BIPOC disability justice activists like Alice Wong, Vilissa Thompson, Imani Barbarin, and Sarah Jama.

Understanding the Need For Inclusion

While it can feel daunting to become more aware of all the ways in which society fails at inclusion of the most oppressed groups, that ability to recognize such gaps can be a big part of taking action.

Just as the problematic status quo was developed over a long period of time, investing in inclusion will take a great deal of work, but it is well worth the effort.

Active Inclusion

To get meaningul responses about what needs to change, organizations need to start by asking the right questions. This includes recognizing and understanding that BIPOC and LGBTQPIA+ folx have often been left out of such discussions.

Experts suggest that such efforts are unlikely to succeed unless they are enforced from the top of the organization all the way through.

Gathering and Incorporating Feedback From Marginalized Groups

When it comes to inclusion work, folx often do not yet know what they do not know. It is common for people who come from backgrounds of privilege to have had a limited understanding of the ways in which systems that may have worked effectively for them have actually been rigged against communities that are BIPOC, LGBTQIAP+, disabled, undocumented, etc.

In fact, it may be well worth assuming that your initial efforts at inclusion may not go as planned, and yet failed attempts only require accountability and greater investment.

All too often, the appearance of progress is prioritized over actual strides with inclusion work.

If you find yourself getting frustrated, that does not mean that the effort in which you are engaging is problematic. In fact, even when inclusion efforts are efficient, they may not necessarily be well-received, especially by groups who view such work as a threat to historical ongoing power systems from which they may still benefit.

What You Can Do to Promote Inclusion

Here's some ways in which you can help to promote inclusion in your daily life:

• Ask yourself which marginalized folx may not feel welcome in a space, and make an effort to change that.
• Identify the barriers to inclusion to those in leadership positions when it is safe to do so to address them.
• Assess how much privilege you have and how much space you hold and amplify more oppressed voices.

Keep in Mind

As you have probably gathered, it would be impossible to explain all that inclusion is in one article, but hopefully, these insights have helped to inform your understanding of this practice, as well as the need for it.

Every setting you encounter may be one in which you have an opportunity to promote inclusion. If you have the capacity to do so, that effort could benefit the lives of those who may not otherwise have access to those spaces.