Equality, Discrimination and Inclusion: Lessons Learned, Challenges, and Positive Notes along the Way

Abstract

This is a reflective piece on my trajectory and contributions in the field of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in Scotland and beyond. I start with a highlight in my career and then reflect back in order to identify what helped me get there. I want to share some insights into EDI work that I have gathered along with others over the past 23 years or so. EDI is a fertile career path and even an industry these days, partly as a result of the consciousness-raising of contemporary movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter. Yet, the issues raised by these movements internationally, have been well-known locally for decades and a great deal of work has been done to respond to them. What does this seemingly novel interest in, for example, intersectionality, equality, diversity, inclusion, belonging, anti-racist approaches and the decolonisation of the curriculum mean? I know where my interest stems from and, whilst sharing some reflections around these terms as buzzwords, I have rather focused in this piece on some lessons and on the processes that led me to learn them in my career in EDI. Necessarily, in this piece, I will share my EDI experience as a Mexican in Glasgow, which includes migration’s mark on my well-being, opportunities and safety in hostile anti-migrant environments. However, I also want to share what has become a life mantra of mine, a means of survival, my permanent wish to find in everything, a positive note.