Advancing disability rights and leadership globally®

Group Dynamics

Date:

How to create an inclusive environment amidst diverse cultural and social mores

As a leader responsible for coordinating many MIUSA exchange programs, I often reflect on what makes MIUSA exchanges unique. I have discovered that the power of MIUSA programs lies within the richly diverse composition of our exchange delegations. Whether walking or rolling down a street in Amman, or facilitating a discussion on empowerment with women from diverse cultures in Latin America, East Africa, and Southeast Asia – over the years I have learned to notice the nuances within a group.

I manage the dynamics and inequities by setting expectations focused on equal access and program goals.

But culture is one facet of many that come up on program. Let’s add disability.

So you have a passionate group of activists from a culture where it is commonplace to speak rapidly and to talk over each other. However, you have several delegates that use sign language which must go through two layers of translation, from English to ASL, then from ASL to something akin to their native sign language. No matter how superhuman sign interpreters are, they cannot interpret three different conversations at the same time; by the time a delegate who is deaf gets the information and formulates a response, the conversation may be two topics ahead.

So for equal access, group discussions must follow many of the expectations we outline for delegates: speak/sign one at a time, limit interruptions, and speak slower.

Such adaptions to provide access for those who sign also may assist those who have learning disabilities, as controlling the speed and the structure of the conversations can add clarity and better access. For those who have speech disabilities and require extra time to speak and be understood, the slower pace can create the space in conversation to physically get a word in edgewise.

Now let’s add gender.

Disability does not exempt you from cultural mores, and often reinforces cultural gender norms.  Within programs that have both men and women there is often a stark difference between how much women contribute to discussions.

Regardless of disability, I have found men to dominate the conversations and discussions more frequently than women.  As a facilitator and a young woman with a speech disability, it has often been difficult for me to participate equally in a discussion. As a leader of various mixed gender groups, I frequently battle for my own space, much less to create space for other women to participate should they want to.

This is one reason that in MIUSA groups, we set the expectation that participants write down their questions, and MIUSA staff will field them one at a time.

Now let’s add economic status.

Social economic classification is an additional overarching factor, and creates various stratifications when combined with disability. Older, wealthier, able bodied women lead discussions and are given the ‘floor’ first. While a woman with a disability could be older, within a group it is the able bodied, higher status women who are not disabled that are more likely to take leadership.

Within youth programs, wealth and social status often play a part in how a group interacts and participates in activities. Cohesion of a group may be more difficult if the delegate with least financial resources cannot go with the group to a restaurant during free time.

At MIUSA, we set the expectation and provide reminders throughout the programs that we all have responsibility to notice inequality, the less privileged, less talkative, and to give room for everyone to be included.

And well, then you have everything else: personality, experience traveling, family background, ethnicity. I could go on and on.

But this is where the magic happens with MIUSA programs. Within workshops, one witnesses the barriers of disability, gender, and class, being consciously recognized and aligned more equally within the diverse group.

A disabled woman who comes from a small village may finally have space to voice topics and have able bodied men listen. Or the Minister of Education may be asked to pause so that sign interpretation for a deaf participant is at the same pace.

Sometimes, combining such diversity on a program becomes just one huge glorious, labor intensive, and potentially tension creating chaos. Yet, ultimately new patterns emerge that often bring people closer together, and make collaboration toward the goals of the program more likely to be realized.

Author: Admin

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