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The standards of the “new” ethics – tolerance, equality and diversity – are becoming stronger in the world. Inclusion is an important part of them. We tell you what inclusiveness is and how it manifests itself in society, education and business
What is inclusiveness and why is it important?
Inclusion is the inclusion of someone or something in the social process. The word “inclusion” comes from the Latin “Includo”, which means “I include”.
Most often, inclusiveness involves the inclusion in the life of society of people with disabilities (HIA): those who have special physical development, disability or mental differences.
In the modern world, discussions about expanding the concept of inclusiveness are popularized. Thus, inclusiveness can be gendered, that is, equally including women in social processes, ethnic, when it comes to racial or ethnic diversity, and so on. The main principle of an inclusive culture is the creation of equal access to the social process for all inclusive classes, that is, groups of people who have historically been excluded from public life: on the basis of gender, race, health status, and so on.
For example, inclusiveness involves a social approach to disability. With this approach, a person with disabilities is not labeled as a “problem”, but on the contrary, society is imperfect and creates barriers for a person with disabilities. This makes the concept of inclusiveness very broad: it also applies to the urban environment, for example, the creation of comfortable wheelchair mobility; and education, in the case of teaching children with special needs in regular schools; and workspace, and business, and many other areas.
It is worth noting that inclusion and diversity are similar but not identical concepts. While diversity tends to focus more on representation, inclusiveness helps people integrate into society and feel like they belong.
Inclusive education
In our country, the education of children with special needs has more than 200 years of history. In 1806, the first school for 12 deaf and dumb children was opened in the city of Pavlovsk, and in 1807 an educational institution for blind children was opened. However, it was only in the 1990s that pilot programs began to appear to integrate children with disabilities into the educational process of ordinary schools.
In 1994, an important event took place – under the auspices of UNESCO in Spain, the World Conference on the Education of Persons with Special Needs was held, at which the term “inclusion” was introduced into international use and the principle of inclusive education was proclaimed.
Inclusive education provides for the active inclusion of children with special needs in the educational process of a regular school. It is important to note that inclusion also implies a revision of the education system towards creating a comfortable learning environment for everyone.
International experience shows that learning together with peers helps children with special needs improve their native speech and mathematics, and inclusion has a neutral or positive effect on the performance of students without disabilities.
Together with specialists from the Special Childhood Center for Curative Pedagogics, we will talk about why inclusive education is important and what is the status of it in our country.
Why is it important
In 2022, more than 700 thousand children with disabilities live in our country. By law, all of them have the right to access education, taking into account their individual abilities and educational needs. Many of these children study together with their peers due to the development of inclusive education.
Inclusion helps children integrate into the school society, fights stigmatization, and among other things, teaches normotypical children to communicate and live together with special children.
Ima Zakharova, teacher-defectologist, psychologist, expert of the Center for Curative Pedagogics “Special Childhood”:
“For us, another term is more important – integration. Integration involves a system that acts as a whole, and every part of the system is important. The idea of integration implies the equivalence of everyone and the value of everyone’s life. If we declare this, we must create equal conditions for this value to flourish and live. What benefits do all participants receive? We are all unique, and seeing a unique person and endowing him with dignity, we can treat him with great respect.
In addition to social benefits, inclusive education often gives children with disabilities the opportunity to study without leaving their families. Olga Boyarshinova, a teacher at the Special Childhood Center, says that in most regions, special education can only be obtained by sending a child to a boarding school. The fact is that a suitable remedial school may be 100, 400 or more kilometers from home, and it is important for children to grow up in a family.
Alternatives and difficulties
An alternative to inclusion is special or remedial education. This method has its pros and cons, but it is based on a medical model of disability that focuses on the child’s diagnosis, often leading to stereotypes and prejudice. Boyarshinova calls to build assistance to the child, depending on his characteristics. In the case of choosing special education, it is important that the special school is not the only place where the child comes into contact with the world.
Ima Zakharova:
“Psychologist Lev Vygotsky said that all special schools are anti-social, because they are set to take the child out of society. It seems to be good there: everything is provided and thought out. But following this path, a person does not get into real life. Our society is very diverse, and the experience of being in a regular school is an experience of diversity, a real life experience.”
How inclusion is built in school
There are a number of important factors that must be observed in order to build an inclusive education. The school must be adapted to the needs of special students and it is not only about ramps, but also about the material and technical base, for example, for visually impaired and hearing impaired children.
The qualifications of the staff also play an important role. It is especially important to apply an individual pedagogical approach to children with disabilities, as well as pay attention to the integration of the child into the team. It is common among parents to worry about how a regular class will receive a special child.
Ima Zakharova believes that if adults respect a child with special needs, then classmates, looking at adults, will do the same.
Olga Boyarshinova, teacher at the Center for Curative Pedagogics “Special Childhood”:
“The presence of bullying and rejection in school is the responsibility of adults. If a child has a severe disability, then as a rule, the children themselves do not poison such a child. They may not understand how to communicate with him, and in this case, special efforts of adults are needed to unite children. If they are applied wisely, to interest, and not to force, then even in the case of a very severe disability in one of the children, it can turn out to be interesting communication and an important social experience for all participants.”
Inclusiveness in business
Diversity and inclusion are important business trends that help companies increase growth and conquer new markets.
These terms should not be confused. When employees of different genders, races with different social experiences are present and have a voice in the company, this is diversity.
Inclusion is a systematic and broad approach to the organization of working life, which cannot be defined only by the number of employees with disabilities or other members of the inclusive classes. The presence of an inclusive climate that creates equal conditions for everyone and eliminates domestic discrimination is more important here.
We talked about inclusion in business and job opportunities for applicants with disabilities with Elena Martynova, co-founder of the Everland project, an inclusive space that helps people with disabilities achieve professional growth.
Advantages of inclusion for business
Inclusion brings not only social, but also economic benefits for business. For example, companies that achieve ethnic diversity perform 35% better, and gender equality brings companies 15% more success than competitors that do not follow these principles.
The relationship of diversity and inclusion with corporate innovation and attracting new market audiences has also been proven.
Elena Martynova, co-founder of the Everland project:
“The most basic and obvious plus is the stability of the team, the removal of general anxiety. If we understand that there is a person nearby with disabilities or an acquired disability, but the company gave him the opportunity to continue his professional activities, this is a signal of security for us.
Employees see that if something happens to them, they will not lose their jobs.
Also, people with disabilities bring with them a very important expertise for the development of customer service. It allows taking into account different aspects of service accessibility for all categories of clients, including people with different health limitations.”
According to the Accenture Getting to Equal 2020: Disability Inclusion report, companies led by leaders focused on working with people with disabilities experience 2,9 times higher sales and 4,1 times higher profits than their counterparts. In 2019, the global movement The Valuable 500 emerged, bringing together the largest companies from around the world that have included inclusion in their strategic agenda.
Difficulties of inclusion in our country
In our country, government initiatives and the quota system play an important role in building an inclusive business. According to Rosstat, in 2022, 3,5 million people with disabilities of working age live in our country, of which only 1,5 million are employed. Among these people, 36% were satisfied with their work, while 51% rated their work as “not quite satisfactory”.
Martynova from Everland believes that a complex of problems leads to this, both on the part of applicants with disabilities and on the part of employers. Applicants with disabilities, even if they have one or more higher educations, most often have lower communication skills and less experience.
There is a demand from employers for specialists with disabilities, and today demand exceeds supply. But so far, companies have no understanding of how to qualitatively build up the integration of people with disabilities into the work environment.
Also, the applicant may face salary discrimination and a “glass ceiling”, in the presence of which the employee loses the opportunity to develop within the company. A specific problem is the fear of losing part of the payments in the employment of people with disabilities.
How to build an inclusive business
In modern business culture, the idea of inclusiveness is being actively introduced: studies and special guides are being published, and reputation largely depends on diversity indicators. About 60% of Fortune 500 companies have a dedicated employee responsible for an inclusive work environment.
There are also companies in our country that specialize in building a culture of diversity and inclusion.
Key recommendations for introducing inclusion in business:
- Onboarding an employee within the team to prevent the emergence of stereotypes, discrimination, and fears in communication.
- Select suitable vacancies taking into account the specifics of the audience and describe them correctly.
- Make the interview accessible and adapt the training stage, if any.
- Take into account the peculiarities of paperwork.
- Competently correlate the workload and opportunities of the applicant.
Many companies organize special trainings for HR managers, as well as create councils for an inclusive environment.
Do not think that the implementation of inclusion is very expensive, and therefore only available to large companies. The Everland project expert said that among the project partners there are many small organizations that work with content specialists, translators, client managers or designers with disabilities.
Elena Martynova:
“The development of digital and remote work has greatly facilitated the interaction of all parties. According to our internal research, more than 70% of job seekers with disabilities are only willing and able to work remotely. There are benefits for employers as well. Remote work is an opportunity to do without the costly adaptation of offline infrastructure.”
Company cases
There are many organizations in our country that help people with disabilities find jobs. Large companies mainly hire employees with disabilities through them, but there are also direct ways, for example, on the Sberbank website, you can filter vacancies suitable for people with disabilities. According to company representatives, Sberbank now has the only blind employee in the entire banking industry in our country.
In 2019, Beeline joined The Valuable 500 movement, and in 2020 it launched the BeeInclusion program, an ecosystem of inclusive projects that improve the quality of life of people with disabilities.
About 1 employees with hearing impairments work in the Auchan hypermarket chain throughout our country, and the program has been operating since 2008. The interview in the company is adapted, with a sign language interpreter, and in order to avoid misunderstanding on the part of customers, there is a sign at the checkout “you are served by a hearing-impaired employee”.
Inclusion in society
An inclusive culture is not limited to access to education and jobs. After all, just like people without health restrictions, representatives of inclusive classes live in society.
For example, inclusive tourism is actively developing – the opportunity to use tourist services for all travelers without exception. The main tool of inclusive tourism is a universal design that takes into account the special needs of travelers, but at the same time suits all categories of people.
Inclusion is also growing in the fashion industry and film industry. In Hollywood, attention is increasingly being paid to representation, actors with disabilities are getting roles, and the inclusive rider is being popularized.
At the 94th Academy Awards in 2022, CODA: Child of Deaf Parents, the main character of the film is a hearing girl who lives with her deaf parents and her brother, won the Best Picture award. Also, actor Troy Kotzur, who played the father of the family, was awarded the statuette for Best Supporting Actor, becoming the first hard of hearing actor to win an Oscar.