More Voices, More Representation / Intersectionality
Briar Harte
Winner of Disability Inclusion Changemaker of the Year 2024 | Inclusive Design | CX Strategist | Enterprise Transformation | Digital Inclusion | Accessibility Uplift | Intersectionality | Speaker & Advocate
79% of people with a disability and 59% of women or non-binary people do not feel represented on International Women's Day.
These findings from a 2024 study by Vu Consulting and SSI inspired the More Voices, More Representation campaign, aimed at fostering greater inclusivity on International Women’s Day.
This year, I’m proud to be involved in the campaign. As a disabled woman and mother, a migrant who has navigated acquiring and managing a disability without citizenship, I have felt, and continue to feel, the impacts of intersectionality.?
In this edition, we will explore the concept of intersectionality in healthcare and business and the wonderful women and non-binary folks involved in the 2025 campaign.
You can learn more about the campaign MoreVoicesMoreRepresentation.com and read all the 2024 insights in the e-book.
This is an inclusive newsletter. By women, I mean women broadly and inclusively. This includes trans, non-binary and other gender expressions.
What is intersectionality?
Intersectionality is a way to understand how different aspects of a person's identity—such as race, gender, class, sexuality, and disability—intersect and overlap. These intersections create unique experiences of marginalisation, oppression, privilege, and discrimination
“Intersectionality is when our intersecting identities have a new, additional impact.”
Intersectionality goes further than aspects or intersecting identities. It’s the mingling of these aspects with systems of oppression and social, political and historical context. It seeks to describe a new and different marginalisation that occurs at the intersection of aspects of our identity. It’s a social, not medical, model of disability utilising systems thinking to human experience of discrimination.??
Dr. Muna Abdi MA, PhD, FHEA explains this well in a recent LinkedIn post.
"It refers to the specific ways in which systems of oppression—like racism, sexism, and classism—intersect to create unique and compounded forms of discrimination.
It’s not just about holding multiple identities; it’s about how those identities are situated within power structures and the resulting experiences of marginalisation."
Intersectionality in healthcare
As a woman, we experience medical misogyny, where research has excluded women and our symptoms - particularly pain - are dismissed. As a disabled person, we also face diagnostic overshadowing, where symptoms are attributed to our known disability rather than a new, unrelated medical condition.?
In my recent experience, gallbladder attacks were assumed to be related to my reproductive cycle or general pain from my disability. In reality, they were caused by something else, which, undiagnosed, could have become a medical emergency.
Stroke symptoms are different for women.?
Women face unique risks because their symptoms may differ from the "classic" male-centred stroke symptoms traditionally taught in medical training. Worse, women don't even know they’re having a stroke because we haven't been taught what they are. Women are more likely to experience stroke symptoms, such as fatigue, general weakness, confusion, disorientation, nausea, or shortness of breath, which may be misattributed to stress, anxiety, or other benign conditions. This results in delayed recognition of stroke by both patients and healthcare providers.
Side note, ChatGPT called female symptoms “non-traditional” and “atypical”, a reminder of how AI uses historical records and, therefore, medical misogyny and bias generally can be baked into Generative AI.?
Autism and ADHD were historically considered to be “boy's conditions”?
Diagnostic models for autism and ADHD were developed based on studies that focused predominantly on boys, leading to a "male-centric" understanding of these conditions.?
This was easy to do when traits like inattention, daydreaming, or being "overly chatty" in girls with ADHD are often dismissed as personality quirks or linked to gender norms. Hyperactivity in boys, by contrast, is more likely to be flagged as disruptive and requiring evaluation.
Emotional dysregulation in ADHD may be mistaken for mood disorders. Women and girls with autism or ADHD are often misdiagnosed with anxiety, depression, or borderline personality disorder, as these conditions can be more readily associated with females. I meet so many women whose diagnosis came in their 30s or 40s, often after a child is diagnosed and similarities in traits are noticed.
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Intersectionality in business
Better human and commercial outcomes can be achieved with intersectionality.
“You can't solve for one part of a person without understanding the whole person, all aspects preventing desired outcomes.”?
Someone who is culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) may need content in an alternative language. If that content is translated and then provided in an inaccessible format for screen readers or other assistive technology, a customer who is both CALD and disabled is no closer to being connected to the information.?
It’s not just business outcomes. It's the human consequences, too. Some customer groups are more frequently forgotten, disproportionately impacted by this and have more severe consequences. Just look at Robodebt.
Other ways intersectionality impacts human and commercial outcomes
Intersectional inclusion is a progressive practice, not a one-time act. It’s a commitment to evolving your understanding and pushing for early, systemic change. Addressing medical misogyny in healthcare or creating inclusive service models in business with an intersectional lens leads to meaningful improvements in human and commercial outcomes. Sometimes, speaking up, other times creating the conditions for someone else to speak for themselves.
More Voices, More Representation on LinkedIn
An easy habit to increase awareness and understanding of intersectionality can be adding more intersectional voices to your social media feed. Here are the impressive voices in More Voices, More Representation on LinkedIn.
For more on the More Voices campaign, contact Mylan Vu and head to More Voices More Representation campaign website.
Unlearning Prompts.
Intersectionality is a rich human tapestry. Consider these unlearning prompts
Previous edition on Upstander and Advocate Behaviours to Nurture Lived Expertise Talent and A disabled perspective following International Women's Day 2024.
Join the unlearning.
You can subscribe to learn with me. I'll share what I learn (and unlearn) about accessibility, inclusion and disability. Together, we will consider the implications for impactful commercial and human outcomes.