IDEA Toolkits — Step 2: Listening & Learning

Step 2: Listening & Learning

Do an environmental scan of your organization’s area to better understand local communities. Collect data of your audience based on race, language and religion to understand where Indigenous, Black and racialized service users are underrepresented or overrepresented. Bring in the voices of Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities to hear their experiences and what their needs and barriers are. Gain an understanding of the structural factors that contribute to the experiences of Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities.

We need to:

Listen to lived experiences (Toolkit 3)

Toolkit 3: Listen to lived experiences

Experiences of being racialized and disabled

In this toolkit, we explain why it is so important to include the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities when designing and implementing your organization’s policies, processes and services, and some practical steps you can take to do so.

Definitions

Lived experience: “Lived experience refers to the direct, personal encounters and challenges that individuals face in their daily lives. It encompasses the first-hand knowledge gained through navigating various aspects of life, such as education, employment, social interactions, and healthcare ….” - Briar Harte

Marginalization: Marginalization refers to the treatment of a person, group, or concept as insignificant or peripheral.

Racialized: The term "racialized persons" broadly encompasses individuals and groups identified outside the dominant White or Caucasian racial categorizations. This classification recognizes a diverse array of ethnicities and races, including South Asian, Chinese, Black, Filipino, Latin American, Arab, Southeast Asian, West Asian, Korean, mixed-race individuals, and others who identify as non-White.

Racialization: Racialization is the result of a historical process of making whiteness the preferred standard and othering anyone who is outside of that standard. This results in marginalization, where people who are not white are seen as different and less than those who fit into the preferred standard. The impacts continue today, reinforcing divisions based on race because of the creation of these categories.

Oppression: The systematic mistreatment, discrimination, and limitation of rights or opportunities experienced by a group of people. It often involves the use of power and authority to maintain unequal social relations.

Why it matters

Oftentimes, the experiences of Indigenous, Black and Racialized people with disabilities can differ greatly from the experiences of non-racialized people with disabilities, even while accessing the same supports or services. Policies and procedures that aim to treat everyone equally, may not necessarily result in equal outcomes or may not be implemented equally in practice. The term “lived experience” can help us better understand the experiences of Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities and how this may be different from the experiences of non-racialized people with disabilities.

The historical marginalization of Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities has meant that their experiences of disablement and how it intersects with racism is largely unknown. Listening to lived experiences allows us to be deliberate and intentional about whose experiences of disablement we consider when developing our policies, processes and services.

Listening to lived experience is closely related to the concept of “nothing about us without us” in disability justice movements. This is the idea that people with disabilities should be active and full participants in creating the policies and services that affect them. The intention is not only to listen to individual experiences, but also to shift power so that the people most affected by policies, practices and programs are involved, have a say in them and are in decision making positions.

Gaps in Research about the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities

Indigenous, Black and Racialized populations experience the highest rates of disability in Canada (Canada Disability Action Plan 2022). Yet literature on disability within a Canadian context is overwhelmingly white and ignores the lived realities of Indigenous, Black and racialized individuals with disabilities. Excluding the voices of Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities leads to a lack of action to address the specific needs of these communities.

Race and Disability Canada’s Storytelling Program

Race and Disability Canada’s Storytelling Program aims to bridge this gap by amplifying the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities. So far, we have done this through two campaigns, focusing on Celebrating Black Disabled Leaders and Celebrating South Asian Disabled Leaders.

Activity

Watch these 2 videos and a reel shared on Race and Disability Canada’s Instagram (linked below) to learn from Black Disabled leaders about their experiences.

Video #1: Ben Akuoko’s experience of Blackness and disability

Video #2: Ben Aukuoko’s experience being targeted by the police

Video #3: Liza Arnason's reflection on the leadership of Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities

Reflect on the following questions and discuss them together:

What stood out to you while watching these 2 videos and the reel?
How is your organization bringing in the lived experiences of Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities into your programs and policies? In what other ways can you do this?
How are Indigenous, Black and racialized people with disabilities represented in the leadership in your organization?

Put this into Practice

Practical steps you can take:

Make an intentional effort to learn from Indigenous, Black and racialized educators with expertise in the various areas that you intend to make change. For example, ask your team to bring articles/reels/posts etc. that speak to lived experiences and share and discuss these as a standing item on your team’s agenda.
Ensure Indigenous, Black and racialized are included and proportionally represented as research participants
Include lived experience as one of the requirements in job postings, showing that your organization values lived experience as a core competency
Connect with Indigenous, Black and racialized people and organizations in your community to learn more about the needs of Indigenous, Black and racialized people in your community. Focus on building relationships and gaining understanding and be careful to avoid tokenizing communities.
Support Indigenous, Black and racialized people in your organization so that they can advance to leadership positions.