Because you’re the diversity

That one thing about you has held you back in your career. Sometimes it has been subtle, sometimes it has been overt, but the message has always been the same: people like you are not welcome here.

Finally you’ve found a place to work where you are welcome. Your new colleagues are delighted to have you on the team. You breathe a sigh of relief that finally you’re in a place where you’re seen as more than one-dimensional.

Then you notice that your new workplace has one of everything: one of every skin colour, one of every developmental disability, one of every physical disability, one of every sexual orientation.

Then you begin to wonder whether your new colleagues are delighted to have you on the team not because of who you are or what you’re capable of, but because of that one thing about you that has held you back in your career.

You have a sinking feeling that you might still be in a place where you’re seen as one-dimensional.