We're not just talking about inclusion, we're doing inclusion.
Pk Kulasegram
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, School of Geography and the Environment
Tell us what brought you to EDI work and Oxford?
“I've always had a very strong sense of justice, equality and of inclusion. When I was working for the ambulance service in New Zealand, I was on the Diversity and Inclusion Council. I was always the one who was raising stuff, like, ‘Hey! In our comms building where I spend 12 hours a day, we don't have a gender-neutral toilet.’ or ‘We don't actually have a wheelchair accessible toilet in the building.’ What drew me to EDI was wanting to make a difference and see positive change.
I decided to move to the UK when I met my partner. I had always liked working in libraries, so I applied for a job at the Bodleian and ended up in Oxford. My journey to my current role - I had a car accident and couldn't work two jobs safely anymore. It made existing disabilities flare up quite badly. I thought, I just want one job and I want to do something that I really love and want to spend the rest of my life doing. I'd seen the role at the School of Geography and Environment (SoGE) advertised and then talked about it with a career coach that I was working with at the time. She was disabled herself so I could talk about things I was worried about in terms of accommodating neurodivergences, limited mobility etc. She was realistic, reassuring me that even with all of that, you can still be successful. Her support is what helped me actually apply for the role.”
Tell us more about your work as EDI practitioner
“An EDI practitioner as a concept is quite amorphous and seems to vary hugely. The nice thing about that for me is I get a lot of freedom to define the role, whilst also working on things like Athena Swan, Gender Equality Charter etc.
I tend to get called on by colleagues in other parts of the University for advice. The EDI practitioners in the University are a strong network. We're very keen to support each other and share what's worked for us. The big chunk of my job at the moment is the staff experience survey. There's interesting data to come out of it but it's creating a story that translates for people, that ties into what we've done. Most people see numbers and they tune out, so my role is driving home that EDI is about people not metrics. The way change happens is when the community actually gets involved. Otherwise, nothing happens because people view EDI as a box ticking exercise and they don't have an investment in it.”
Give us an example of positive change leading to greater inclusion
“We had a commitment to make a little quiet room for neurodivergent employees, to have a place to decompress. I brought it up with our planning team and the room they suggested had no separate access from within the building, you'd have to go outside for step free access, there was no natural light, it was incredibly loud because it's next to the showers and a boiler runs through it. It was also acting as the breast pumping room. This wasn’t going to work.
In the end they found a toilet. That sounded really grim, but they encouraged me to see it with an open mind. And actually, it's on the third floor, there's a skylight, we could rip the toilet out and put some sound proofing on the walls and carpet it, and it'll be a really nice room. Because it was a toilet, there was plumbing which would allow us to install washing facilities, so we could expand this to a multi-faith, quiet contemplation space. It’s now this really great space with multiple purposes. When the Law faculty did something similar, members of their community donated prayer mats, which made it feel like space for the community, supported by the community. We hoped to achieve the same at SoGE. It's just really little things like that which I think make a difference and then translate into cultural shifts. We're not just talking about inclusion, we're doing inclusion.”
Why is it important for you to be working in EDI?
“When I learned that I had ADHD, and therefore have an interest-based nervous system, I knew that I could only do a job that I was interested in otherwise I end up with horrible mental health and become incredibly unwell very quickly. While I've had lots of jobs that are very interesting, the thing that I have come back to in pretty much any way shape or form in all of those jobs is an EDI component.
So, in the context of EDI at Oxford, the only reason you stick around a place doing EDI is because you love the place, and you know it could do better. You believe in it. That's why we bother correcting someone. I think we need to move away from this idea that when someone tells you you've done something wrong, they're saying you're a bad person. When someone calls you out on your behaviour, for sure it's awful, but that person is also saying, I think you're a good person and I know you can do better, and I trust you to do better. Fundamentally, that's why I want to do EDI that's what I'm passionate about. I think we can do better, and we should do better, and you know hopefully we will.”
