How to Expand Your DEI Allyship Beyond Your Expertise
By: Lusik Gasparyan
Tags: Diversity And Inclusion, Training And Development, Inclusion, Consulting, Disability

Is “Diversity, Equity & Inclusion” just something to include in your LinkedIn headline?

I recently listened to a podcast by a DEI consultant who offers in-company inclusion workshops. She talked about the cancel culture she experienced when Disability Advocacy groups shamed her for not talking enough about their community as a DEI practitioner. After heavily criticizing the cancel culture, she moved on to talk about how allyship is earned and how it is an on-going journey.

I do agree with her assessment of allyship, which is an important topic that I want to come back to. However, I feel that being upset that she “canceled” for not addressing the concerns of the disability community as a DEI consultant is not recognizing what her role is in the inclusion space.

The Specialization Effect: As DEI practitioners/consultants/experts, we will typically be an expert in one community and an on-going ally in another at the same time. This means we will have our specializations. I, for example, specialize in race, gender, and disability rights. However, it is my responsibility to continue learning about other underrepresented communities. As professionals who preach equity and inclusion, we have to put in work. Our lived experiences can only get us so far. And considering the disability community is frequently is the community left behind by DEI and there are both hidden and visible disabilities, we need to do a better job at learning and allyship.

We will always have urgent priorities that demand our focus. I firmly believe the fight for racial equity is our collective urgent priority. What I also know is that advocating for the disabled community is a critical part of the DEI conversation as well.

Training Helps Unlock More Collective Inclusion: This year was full of remote training opportunities. If we are serious about committing to DEI, and especially if we will be getting paid for that work, then we must continue educating ourselves on all underrepresented communities to be able to more effectively and empathetically teach about inclusion. Of course, we will never reach expertise in a community or topic. Even getting the highest degree in an area of a subject does not mean the person has absolute expertise. We say “expertise” to acknowledge their work on that topic. DEI Practitioners are not striving for absolute expertise, we are trying to learn and understand.

There are a lot of great places to get further training in DEI no matter how far along you are in your journey. This year, as a U.S. resident, I even attended training in Canada and learned that we have the same concerns when it comes to race equality. Eventbrite is a great place to find great free training. Another wonderful resource for workshops is General Assembly, they have free workshops every Friday. Finally, one of my recent favorites is StartOut.

Embracing Intersectional Allyship: Allyship is earned. By committing to learning about communities that you are not a part of, hearing their concerns and needs, you are working on allyship. When I attend LGBTQ+ trainings, I go to listen, to take notes, to take less space, and to learn. StartOut has supported me on that journey with their amazing webinars and discussions.

When I commit to the allyship of a community that I am not a part of, I know that I will need to put in more work, and continuously earn and keep their trust. I will need to advocate out loud. Allyship requires work and knowing that you won’t always be the popular voice, but at least you will know that you are making the right choice.

As Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Practitioners, if we are going to specialize in advocating for one underrepresented community, we can serve as an advocate for that community but not claim DEI expert in all communities. It is a huge concern when a DEI consultant is hired to consult for an organization’s entire DEI identity and culture but does not let the organization know that they only specialize in one or two communities. Organizations should ensure that they don’t hire an internal DEI Director not knowing whether or not that that person addresses all the concerns of the employees. We need to be straightforward with our talents. It’s not enough to just put DEI in our titles, instead, we need to commit to continuously learning about all communities that we advocate for as DEI leaders.

Finally, DEI leaders cannot be afraid of cancel culture; being a leader means going against the stream. After all, weren't we all changemakers, raised by the streets where activism and disruptor movements started? We advocate for an idea that is against the norm and not always popular: inclusion and equity of all.