I’m aware of President Trump’s executive order to ban government DEI Initiatives, and that awareness only strengthens my resolve to support diversity, equity, and inclusion at all levels. This is why.

Opportunity is not a luxury everybody can enjoy with ease. It’s a sad truth that this world was not built for everyone. In fact, there are more people who struggle to succeed than there are the alternative. I’m an example of someone who should experience fewer barriers. College educated, mentally healthy, CIS white male of middle-class suburban upbringing; some would say that I have no barriers whatsoever, but even that isn’t true. Everyone has barriers. Some have less than others, but we all struggle, and that’s why DEI is so important.

There’s a well-known illustration that depicts three people attempting to look over a wall to see a baseball game. The people are depicted at different heights and when each is given an equal platform to boost themselves up to a higher vantage point, one is still unable to see the game because even with a boost, that person remains too short. The second person was already tall enough to see over the fence, so any boost that they received was entirely unnecessary. And the third person was the only true beneficiary. The boost that they received was just enough to help them see over the fence.

The illustration then goes on to show how equitable assistance is a much better solution because it benefits everyone involved, not just the lucky few. In this example, the tall person receives no boost – they didn’t need it. The middle person receives the same boost that helped them see the game in the example that depicted equality, so they’re still able to enjoy the game. And the short person receives their original boost + the boost that was previously given to the tall person, thereby bringing everyone up to a satisfactory height for watching the game. All in all, nobody misses out, and everyone benefits.

In that illustration, height is a metaphor. In the real world, height is not a major dividing barrier for most, nor is it as impactful as a person’s age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, education, geographic location, culture, or disability. These are all major examples of things that either hold people back or push them forward, depending on the opportunity that they’re working toward.

In the illustration given above, I might be compared to the tall person, whereas, someone from African decent might be in the middle, and someone in a wheel chair with cerebral palsy might be at the bottom. This is not because those demographics are lesser in any way, but is instead because social systems and unconscious biases have trained different cultures to value and discriminate against different attributes, sometimes without them even realizing it. And what makes DEI even more important to the future growth of our culture, is that sometimes those that are furthest from the top of the fence embody the most potential for positive impact within the community.  So, helping them to succeed helps us all, and this takes nothing away from the people who can already see over the fence. They’re still able to enjoy the game. Instead, DEI pushes us to ensure that we look further, that we open our eyes, and that we consider every viable option rather than just a few. It also inspires us to remove systemic barriers by actively attempting to diversify our communities in ways that we may never have considered if we were never asked to.

To me, DEI doesn’t mean that people like myself don’t get hired. It just means that people like myself, who statistically stand the best chance of getting hired, are not the only candidates, and it prevents people like myself from casting a blackened shadow on people who are not like myself. I can safely say that I don’t want to be part of an organization that only serves the interests of people like myself and that I feel strengthened, ten-fold, when I am a working member of a diverse organization that ensures every member’s interest is considered and that they all have an opportunity to be included in the company culture.

For the past five years, I’ve worked at a human services agency that serves people with mental health challenges and intellectual and developmental disabilities. As an employee of that organization, I founded a multi-disciplinary arts program called the Creative Expressions Program. As the manager of the Creative Expressions Program, I’ve helped lead a team of educators, therapists, and coaches who’ve acted as a bridge to artistic hopes and dreams for 100+ people per/year, people who’ve previously only ever known stigma, criticism, and misunderstanding. After joining Gesher Human Services, they experienced acceptance, possibility, support, and opportunity. That culture is what I’m used to, and anything less would be a huge step backward.

I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside people from every race and culture imaginable, devout practitioners of every religion, representatives from every part of LGBTQ, and more. I would even go so far as to say that my colleagues have lived a very different life from my own, yet we all still get along. That’s what I believe is beautiful about an organization like Gesher, an organization with a strong DEI identity. I believe that we are stronger as a result of having a DEI initiative, and I don’t believe that we would be the same without it.