Conversations

Episode 20: Neurodiversity & Culture

Together with our guest Atif Choudhury, we’ll look at neurodiversity through the lens of culture, explore how it was perceived in our not-so-distant past, and how it is viewed in different communities and societies around the world now. Atif is the Founder and CEO of award-winning disability-led social entreprise: Diversity & Ability.

Episode 19: Disability Pride

Together with our guests: Beth Kume-Holland and Isaac Harvey, we’ll explore what disability pride means to them, hear from their lived experience, and discuss how we can go about shifting the narrative around disability one conversation at a time. Disability Pride Month takes place in July, but the 3 of us think we should celebrate disability and our incredibly diverse community all year round! 

Episode 18: Sensory Conversations

How do we and can we have conversations and share stories when language, read or spoken, isn’t an option? This is what we’ll explore together with our guest: Joanna Grace, a Sensory Engagement Specialist, Doctoral Researcher, Author, Trainer, TEDx speaker, and Founder of The Sensory Projects. Her work focuses on people with profound intellectual disabilities.  

Episode 17: Living on the Borderline

May is Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) Awareness Month. BPD is a mental health condition that affects emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal relationships. It’s often misunderstood and stigmatised. Last year, I opened up in a heartfelt conversation with my therapist. Since then, I’ve found an wonderful community in ‘The BPD Bunch’ on YouTube and Instagram. We’re joined by cast members: Xannie, Mel, Sophie, and Jay.

Episode 16: Neurodiversity – What if we dropped the mask?

Neurodiversity is an umbrella term that refers to diversity in the human brain and cognition. For many neurodiverse people, masking is a survival mechanism used to navigate neurotypical societies and organisations. It’s a way of fitting in that can come at a high cost. We’re joined by guests: Krystle McGilvery, and Matthew Bellringer.  

Episode 15: The Language of Disability

Words matter. The language we choose has an impact on the conversations we have and on everyone involved.  In this episode, Roxanne Steel and Martyn Sibley share their personal experience and expertise as part of what is an open and candid conversation about language, communication, and confidence when it comes to talking about disability.

Episode 14: 2022 Reflections on Inclusion

What a wonderful year it’s been! We’ve created a community and have learned so much. As we approach the end of the year, we brought some of our wonderful 22 guests of 2022 for an episode of reflections on inclusion. We spoke about some of our achievements, shared challenges we’ve faced, and discussed our hopes for the future.

Episode 13: Minority Stress – Resilience and Creativity

Minority stress describes chronic stress faced by members of stigmatised minority groups. There are both external and internal factors at play. We talk about their links to resilience and creativity and discuss intersectionality.

Episode 12: Disability Pride – Changing the Narrative

Disabled people are too often overlooked and excluded. It’s time to change the narrative, break down barriers, and make the world an accessible place. 

This month’s guest Celia Hensman is the Co-Founder of The Disability Policy Centre. She is an active disability rights campaigner who has has multiple rare disabilities including Loeys-Dietz Syndrome, Marfans, POTS. 

Episode 11: Life Beyond A Suicide Loss

The World Health Organisation (WHO) records about 703,000 suicide a year around the world. For every one, there are likely 20 other people attempting and many more have serious suicidal thoughts. Also, millions suffer immense grief and are profoundly impacted by others’ suicidal ideation and behaviours.

This is the premise of the conversation with Mark Pitcher whose son Charlie took his life in 2016 at the age of 18.

Episode 10: Inclusive Innovation

Innovation and Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) are closely linked. Diversity brings a wide range of perspectives and creative ideas and, with inclusion, we are able to create a space where these can be shared, debated, and turned into a reality.

What if we put D&I at the heart of innovation? What is the impact of non-inclusive innovation? What more can we do in this space and for what benefits? We will be joined by guests extraordinaire Abi Hird, Michael Omotosho, & Hardeep Rai.

Episode 9: Where is Home? The Path to Belonging 

Where or what is home to you? How does home make you feel? Is home a place? We explore this topic with two global-citizens: Nimet Rener, Executive Coach and previously Not-for-Profit Senior Leader and Filip Zafirovski, Professor of English and Intercultural Communication.

Together, we discuss the challenges that come with simultaneously feeling you belong nowhere and everywhere. 

Episode 8: Where is the Diversity in Diversity & Inclusion? 

In an episode of her podcast Confessions of a DEI Practitioner: Should White People (Mostly Women) Do Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Work? Ashanti Bentil-Dhue points out the visible lack of diversity in the field of diversity & inclusion.

How did that happen? Why does it matter? And what can we do about it? We find out more from Ashanti, a leading diversity and inclusion practitioner, speaker and coach.

Episode 7: Dyslexia – When Words Dance

Dyslexia involves difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and other symbols, but does not affect general intelligence.

In this episode, guests Karis Gill (Co-Founder of Social Stories Club) and Pearce Jarrett (Founder of Gwaan), will share more about how dyslexia has and continues to inform and shape their unique lives and entrepreneurship journeys.

Episode 6: Breaking the Stigma – Borderline Awareness

Sunday 1 May marks the start of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) Awareness Month. The condition is often misunderstood and carries a daunting stigma.

This is a topic very close to my heart and part of my story, so the episode will run a bit differently. Guest and therapist Dr. Marta Santandreu Oliver and I will have a dialogue about the condition covering both theory and manifestation(s). 

Episode 5: Who am I? Identity & Intersectionality

To pave the way for World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, we were joined by 3 amazing guests for a special Hong-Kong x the UK x the world episode around the theme of: Who am I? 

Hear from Benita Chick, Fern Ngai, and Sudesh Thevasenabathy about identity and intersectionality. 

Episode 4: Deaf Awareness – To Hear for Life, Listen with Care

Ahead of Deaf Awareness Week (4 to 9 May 2022), we were joined by Simon Houghton, Founder of social enterprise WeSupportDeafAwareness.

He shared with us his personal story having been born deaf and spoke about his commitment to help people and organisations better communicate with people who have varying degrees of hearing impairments.

Episode 3: Gender Equality – What if it all started with a wee? 

Taking place in March, International Women’s Day (IWD) is a celebration of the achievements and contributions of women. It has been an international event since 1911 and the theme in 2022 is #BreakTheBias.

Watch the third episode of The Inclusion Conversation with guests Amber Probyn and Hazel McShane, co-founders of PEEQUAL, the UK’s first urinal for women.

Episode 2: LGBTIQA+ Stories & Meaningful Allyship

February is LGBTIQA+ History Month in the UK. It aims to acknowledge the integral part and contributions to society of the LGBTIQA+ community. It has been an annual event since 2005 and the 2022 theme is ‘Politics In Art’.

Watch the second episode of The Inclusion Conversation with guests Saskhia Menendez and Jyoti Sehdev.

Episode 1: The Language of Inclusion

Curious to learn more about diversity and inclusion? Ever wondered what to say or not say? Ever said something that wasn’t inclusive without knowing?

Watch the first episode of The Inclusion Conversation: ‘The Language of Inclusion’ with guests extraordinaire Olajide Alabi and Louisa Davies, the founders of SISU Consultancy for a candid conversation about both the language used in diversity and inclusion as well as inclusive language.