Part two
What EDI means to us
Our colleagues highlight what EDI means to them personally and reflect on what matters from their areas of work, including what they would like to see the 快活影院do more of, to further embed inclusion.
How EDI makes us feel
鈥淚 absolutely love animals! When I started volunteering at my nearest 快活影院branch I was nervous, because I couldn鈥檛 imagine there would be many people there wearing a hijab, and who look like me.
鈥淚t matters, you know? What are they thinking about a Muslim woman? Will I fit in? To be honest, people I鈥檓 working with have been wonderful: really, really, friendly. We are getting to know each other so well. K, another volunteer, even confessed to me that she didn鈥檛 think Muslims kept pets! We laughed about that.
鈥淚鈥檓 not local, and I was also warned about how some 鈥榮mall minded鈥� people in the village might react to me. So, I鈥檝e had a couple of people stare hard at me, and one gentleman in particular made me feel really uncomfortable, muttered something under his breath about immigration, that I should 鈥済o back home鈥� sort of thing. But then my colleagues stared hard back at him and asked him to leave! The look of shock on his face! I cried, not because of him, but because of my colleagues.
鈥淧lus I鈥檒l never forget what K said: 鈥淒on鈥檛 take paracetamol for someone else鈥檚 headache.鈥� In other words, don鈥檛 let the man鈥檚 bigotry get me down. Wow! That鈥檚 being an ally. That鈥檚 what proper inclusion means to me!鈥�
鈥淲hen I first met you Pat Ismond, I鈥檒l be honest I didn鈥檛 really get this inclusion stuff, especially that word equity! But I think I do now. So, if I鈥檝e got this right, equity means that for everyone to compete equally for jobs, we should pay extra attention to the person who has had to come from further back to make it. Poorer backgrounds, for instance, or who had to leave school early. Folk, like me, who may not have all the fancy qualifications, but still have the life skills to make a difference to us and our work. Equity then is doing things to level things up?鈥�
鈥淔eeling heard, but also feeling safe to be who I want to be. I only recently discovered that I have Asperger鈥檚 Syndrome, and it鈥檚 a bit like a light has gone off in my head, explaining how and why I do what I do. If I could be myself and feel acknowledged for who I am, that鈥檚 inclusion!鈥�
鈥淭he song 鈥楧on鈥檛 fence me in鈥� (version by Labrinth). I love it, really sums things up for me about the joy of no limits, and everyone able to be themselves, without harming others.鈥�
Progression, NOT perfection, with no pressure to get things right
Staff reflections
This section focuses on some of the things that matter to our colleagues from their areas of work, including what they would like to see the 快活影院do more of to further embed inclusion.
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