tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/inclusive-26906/articlesInclusive – The Conversation2022-11-29T13:35:33Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1932652022-11-29T13:35:33Z2022-11-29T13:35:33Z‘Y'all,’ that most Southern of Southernisms, is going mainstream – and it’s about time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497709/original/file-20221128-25-u3e61t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=113%2C24%2C5041%2C3580&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A sign encourages people to vote in Charlotte, N.C., ahead of the 2022 U.S. midterm elections.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-made-by-the-group-democracy-nc-reads-its-time-to-vote-news-photo/1244530643?phrase=y'all&adppopup=true"> Sean Rayford/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/233049240?accountid=11824&parentSessionId=kVHOP8EzU2pwO4y4LFLsjx0xdUKGkFopcW7QCWFFPPs%3D">Southern Living</a> magazine once described “y’all” as “the quintessential Southern pronoun.” It’s as iconically Southern as sweet tea and grits.</p>
<p>While “y’all” is considered <a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-nonstandard-english-1691438">slang</a>, it’s a useful word nonetheless. The English language doesn’t have a good second person plural pronoun; “you” can be both singular and plural, but it’s sometimes awkward to use as a plural. It’s almost like <a href="https://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0311/p18s04-hfes.html">there’s a pronoun missing</a>. “Y’all” fills that second person plural slot – as does “you guys,” “youse,” “you-uns” and a few others.</p>
<p>I’m interested in “y’all” because I was born in North Carolina and grew up saying it. I still do, probably a couple dozen times a day, usually without intention or even awareness. <a href="https://works.bepress.com/david-parker/">As a historian</a> who has researched the early history of the word, I’m also interested in how the word’s use has changed over the years.</p>
<h2>Like something a ‘hillbilly redneck’ would say</h2>
<p>“Y’all” might serve an important function, but it has acquired negative connotations. </p>
<p>Back in 1886, <a href="https://www.proquest.com/hnpnewyorktimes/docview/94432411/31D5C386FF6A456FPQ/1?accountid=11824">The New York Times</a> ran a piece titled “Odd Southernisms” that described “y’all” as “one of the most ridiculous of all the Southernisms.” </p>
<p>That perception has persisted. Like the <a href="https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1014&context=ling_etds">Southern dialect</a> in general, the use of “y’all” has often been seen as vulgar, low-class, uncultured and uneducated. As someone noted in <a href="https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=y%27all&page=2">Urban Dictionary</a>, “Whoever uses [y’all] sounds like a hillbilly redneck.”</p>
<p>In a more recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/18/magazine/yall.html">New York Times essay</a>, writer Maud Newton said that she associated the word with her father, who “defended slavery, demanded the subservience of women and adhered to ‘spare the rod and spoil the child.’” He also demanded that his children say “y’all” rather than “you guys.” She grew up hating the word. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Red and white-striped water tower featuring the text 'Florence Y'all.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497706/original/file-20221128-4861-6pnfb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A water tower in Florence, Ky., proudly displays the collective form of address long associated with the U.S. South.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/water-tank-with-florence-y-all-greeting-painted-on-the-side-news-photo/535788459?phrase=y'all&adppopup=true">Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At a time when many Americans are calling for the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/23/970610428/nearly-100-confederate-monuments-removed-in-2020-report-says-more-than-700-remai">removal of Confederate monuments</a> and opposing the <a href="https://inclusivehistorian.com/lost-cause-myth/">Lost Cause mythology</a>, “y’all,” with its Southern overtones, might make some people uncomfortable – a misguided reaction, perhaps, but one that has been felt by both those who hear it and those who say it.</p>
<h2>Imagine ‘y’all’ with a British accent</h2>
<p>The word has not always had such negative connotations. </p>
<p>The etymology of “y’all” is murky. Some <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Old-English-New-Linguistics-Humanities/dp/0815310862">linguists</a> trace it back to the Scots-Irish phrase “ye aw”; <a href="https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/journals/10.1075/eww.14.1.03lip">others</a> suggest an African American origin, perhaps from the Igbo word for “you” brought over by Nigerian-born slaves. According to the “Oxford English Dictionary,” the word first appeared in print in 1856, and all of its examples are sources connected to the American South. <a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807858066/the-new-encyclopedia-of-southern-culture/">Michael Montgomery</a>, a noted linguist, said that early use of the word “is unknown in the British Isles.”</p>
<p>But recently I used some of the new digital literary databases to search for older uses of the word, and <a href="https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159662">I found over a dozen examples</a>. They were all in dramatic or poetic works dating back to the 17th century and published in London. The earliest “y’all” that I uncovered was in William Lisle’s “The Faire Æthiopian,” published in 1631 – “and this y'all know is true.”</p>
<p>My examples push “y’all” back 225 years before the citation in the “Oxford English Dictionary,” and they show that the word appeared first in England rather than the United States. </p>
<p>I think it’s important to point out that it originated in a more formal context than what’s commonly assumed. There are none of the class or cultural connotations of the later American examples.</p>
<p>I should also note that there is almost a centurylong gap between the last known usage of this British version of “y’all” and the first known usage of the American version. Scholars may well decide that these versions of “y’all” are essentially two different words. </p>
<p>Still, there it is, in an English poem written in 1631. </p>
<h2>‘Y'all means all’</h2>
<p>Ironically, at the same time that some people have shied away from using “y’all,” the word seems to have grown in popularity. An article on exactly this topic, published in the Journal of English Linguistics in 2000, was titled “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00754240022005045">The Nationalization of a Southernism</a>”; based on scientific polling, the authors suggested that “y’all” will soon be seen as an American, rather than Southern, word. </p>
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<img alt="Man walks by billboard with text reading 'love all y'all.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/497701/original/file-20221128-20-uy7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">There’s an inclusivity inherent to ‘y'all.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/july11-2017-storefront-sign-love-all-yall-photographed-on-news-photo/1145913265?phrase=y'all&adppopup=true">Bill Tompkins/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>There might be several reasons for this. One is that African American use of the word in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbDiiJv9_Qk">music</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Icons-African-American-Comedy-Greenwood/dp/0313380848">other forms of popular culture</a> has made it more familiar – and, therefore, acceptable – to those who didn’t grow up with it.</p>
<p>Second, “you guys,” <a href="http://survey.johndal.com/results/290/">another common alternative</a> for the second-person plural pronoun, is losing support because of its sexist connotations. Are females included in you guys? How about those who identify as nonbinary? </p>
<p>Maud Newton eventually came to embrace “y’all.” When she moved to Tallahassee, Florida, after law school, she found that “in grocery stores and coffee shops, on the street and in the library, everyone – Black and white, queer and straight, working-class and wealthy – used y’all, and soon I did, too.”</p>
<p>“Y’all means all” – that’s a wonderful phrase that seems to be popping up everywhere, from <a href="https://scontent-atl3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/52696104_10155844141826150_4218014470036783104_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=DVHP94pupXwAX8MRuB1&_nc_ht=scontent-atl3-2.xx&oh=00_AfD9_-BRJfm2m3Y7RjeQN32t_9s_R4k8tg8nRmh4aoOEMg&oe=63A5C5F2">T-shirts</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Yall-Means-All-Emerging-Appalachia/dp/1629639141?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER">book titles</a> to <a href="https://www.syracuseculturalworkers.com/products/poster-yall-means-all">memes</a> and music.
A <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVW3ZXOrG4E&list=RDBVW3ZXOrG4E&start_radio=1">song</a> written by Miranda Lambert for Netflix’s “Queer Eye” beautifully captures the spirit of the phrase:</p>
<pre class="highlight plaintext"><code> You can be born in Tyler, Texas,
Raised with the Bible Belt;
If you’re torn between the Y’s and X’s,
You ain’t gotta play with the hand you’re dealt ...
Honey, y’all means all.
</code></pre><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193265/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David B. Parker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The use of ‘y'all’ has often been seen as vulgar, low-class and uncultured. That’s starting to change.David B. Parker, Professor of History, Kennesaw State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1720452021-11-19T01:07:43Z2021-11-19T01:07:43ZA win for transgender athletes and athletes with sex variations: the Olympics shifts away from testosterone tests and toward human rights<p>The International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week <a href="https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/News/2021/11/IOC-Framework-Fairness-Inclusion-Non-discrimination-2021.pdf">released</a> a much anticipated policy document aimed at making the Olympics more inclusive for transgender athletes and athletes with sex variations.</p>
<p>The new <a href="https://stillmed.olympics.com/media/Documents/News/2021/11/IOC-Framework-Fairness-Inclusion-Non-discrimination-2021.pdf">framework</a> builds on more than two years of consultation with diverse athletes, advocates, and stakeholders.</p>
<p>The devil will be in the detail and implementation, of course. But this fresh approach, which places human rights at the centre, could herald a new era of gender-inclusive sports participation and governance.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/world-rugbys-proposed-ban-on-trans-athletes-is-wrong-history-shows-inclusion-is-possible-145540">World Rugby's proposed ban on trans athletes is wrong. History shows inclusion is possible</a>
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<h2>Why this new framework – and why now?</h2>
<p>One of the most prominent gender equity and human rights issues of recent years has been the inclusion of gender-minoritised people – those whose bodies and/or gender expression and identity do not neatly align with normative notions of the female/male binary. </p>
<p>This issue affects sport globally from grassroots to elite levels. Stakeholders have long called for change.</p>
<p>We work with sports organisations and athletes grappling with the question of inclusion in women’s sport. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19406940.2021.1955727">Our own research</a> has highlighted that many sports organisations develop policies with little to no knowledge of the complexity of the issue – and often without engaging the athletes affected.</p>
<p>The new IOC framework follows a long and much-critiqued history of efforts to define the boundaries of the female athlete category, dating back to the “<a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-testing-at-the-olympics-should-be-abolished-once-and-for-all-132956">nude parades</a>” of the 1960s. </p>
<p>In the past, the goal has been to find a “biological basis of womanhood” and relied on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1357034X19865940">incomplete and controversial scientific evidence</a>. </p>
<p>Today, however, there is wider recognition of the fact science alone cannot provide a straightforward answer to such as socially and biologically complex question. </p>
<p>An alternative approach, reflected in the IOC’s new framework, is to build policy around the concept of human rights.</p>
<h2>What do the new guidelines say?</h2>
<p>The new framework recognise human rights as a fundamental responsibility of sports governing bodies.</p>
<p>It explicitly takes the approach athletes shouldn’t be excluded solely on the basis of their transgender identity or sex variations. It aims to ensure everyone can practice sport safely and free from harassment, irrespective of their gender or sex-linked traits. </p>
<p>Importantly, the framework attempts to move sports governing bodies away from relying on testosterone as a one-size-fits-all measure of eligibility. </p>
<p>In its place, it emphasises ten key principles to guide the policy development process: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>prevention of harm</p></li>
<li><p>non-discrimination</p></li>
<li><p>fairness</p></li>
<li><p>no presumption of advantage</p></li>
<li><p>evidence-based approaches to regulation</p></li>
<li><p>the primacy of health and bodily autonomy</p></li>
<li><p>a stakeholder-centered approach to rule development</p></li>
<li><p>the right to privacy </p></li>
<li><p>periodic review of eligibility regulations.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The relationship between testosterone and performance is so complex, sports governing bodies cannot realistically expect to rely on testosterone measures when defining eligibility.</p>
<p>There is just as much diversity among the bodies and performances of trans women and women with sex variations as we see among cisgender and normatively-bodied women athletes. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1460662931159404554"}"></div></p>
<p>The IOC’s <a href="https://olympics.com/ioc/news/ioc-releases-framework-on-fairness-inclusion-and-non-discrimination-on-the-basis-of-gender-identity-and-sex-variations">spokespeople</a> were pragmatic: let’s take one step at a time, have faith in the ten principles, and see where they take us. </p>
<p>In this way, the new framework (and its underlying philosophy) moves us well beyond contentious <a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/Documents/Commissions_PDFfiles/Medical_commission/2015-11_ioc_consensus_meeting_on_sex_reassignment_and_hyperandrogenism-en.pdf">testosterone thresholds introduced in 2015</a> and the 2003 <a href="https://stillmed.olympic.org/Documents/Reports/EN/en_report_905.pdf">Stockholm consensus</a>, which required athletes to have affirmation surgeries and “anatomical changes”.</p>
<p>In fact, the IOC now recognises the “severe harm” and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2159676X.2021.1920456">systemic discrimination caused by such eligibility criteria and policies</a>. </p>
<p>This includes the disproportionate burdens and harms that have been wrought upon women of colour from Global South nations in sports like track and field. </p>
<p>The question now is: how will other sports governing bodies, most notably the International Federations (IFs) that govern each Olympic sport, be brought on side? </p>
<p>The IOC now calls for IFs to take</p>
<blockquote>
<p>a principled approach to develop their criteria that are applicable to their sport.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>An important and welcome move</h2>
<p>This framework represents a step forward for gender-inclusive sport but there’s more work ahead. It doesn’t mention non-binary athletes at all, meaning it still frames elite sports participation within a strict gender binary.</p>
<p>It’s promising to see a shift away from a paradigm focused on particular scientific and medical approaches regulating exclusion of certain groups. The move toward a contemporary vision of gender-inclusive sport is promising. </p>
<p>This new approach is a positive move for gender equitable sport; both trans women and women with sex variations will be valuable allies in the fight to make sport safe and inclusive for all women.</p>
<p>Hopefully, it will help make grassroots a more welcome space for trans and gender diverse people. These groups report alarming levels of poor mental health and suicidal ideation and have a right to opportunities to improve wellbeing through sport.</p>
<p>Sport has a unique opportunity to advance progress and health outcomes for marginalised communities.</p>
<p>This move may offer hope to young people of diverse genders and sex that they too can strive to achieve greatness in a sport they love.</p>
<p><em>Independent researcher Payoshni Mitra contributed to this article.</em></p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-way-we-talk-about-olympian-laurel-hubbard-has-real-consequences-for-all-transgender-people-163418">Why the way we talk about Olympian Laurel Hubbard has real consequences for all transgender people</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Storr works for/consults to Proud2Play. He is affiliated with Proud2Play. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sheree Bekker is an invited speaker at the International Olympic Committee World Conference on the Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sport, Monaco, 25-27 November 2021. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeleine Pape does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new IOC framework aims to ensure everyone can practice sport safely and free from harassment, irrespective of their gender or sex-linked traits.Ryan Storr, Research fellow, Swinburne University of TechnologyMadeleine Pape, Postdoctoral Researcher, Université de LausanneSheree Bekker, Assistant Professor, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1639552021-07-13T14:37:47Z2021-07-13T14:37:47ZVictoria’s Secret joins the ‘inclusive revolution,’ finally realizing diversity sells<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410424/original/file-20210708-25-hvedm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4962%2C3315&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Victoria's Secret we've become accustomed to is no more. The brand has finally realized that diversity sells.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andy Wong) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-06-17/victorias-secret-rebrand-influencers-angels">Victoria’s Secret recently announced a cast of new “angels.”</a> They include American athlete Megan Rapinoe, actress and activist Priyanka Chopra Jonas and the brand’s first transgender model, Vanetina Sampaio. Together, they speak to a far more diverse image of beauty than was common for the once popular company. </p>
<p>Victoria’s Secret learned a lesson other leading fashion brands and the industry at large are coming to realize: diversity sells.</p>
<h2>Better representation</h2>
<p>This isn’t surprising. For years, consumers have <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/fashions-long-road-to-inclusivity">called for greater inclusion and better representation in mainstream fashion</a>. And the industry’s most avant-garde players have already responded, including <a href="https://www.theroot.com/rihannas-savage-x-fenty-show-is-a-masterclass-in-divers-1845252031">Rihanna’s much talked about Savage X Fenty</a> and <a href="https://people.com/style/summersalt-beach-body-campaign/">Summersalt’s “every body is a beach body”</a> campaign. </p>
<p>Consumers are willing to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/aeries-latest-inclusive-campaign-featuring-women-with-disabilities-and-medical-conditions-praised-online">back brands that feature diversity with their praise</a> and more importantly, their dollars. </p>
<p>In the last two years, fashion brands like <a href="https://fashionunited.uk/news/business/tommy-hilfiger-commits-to-diversity-with-people-s-place-program/2020071349808">Tommy Hilfiger</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/flyease-adaptive-fashion-1.6026277">Nike</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleykohan/2020/06/28/aeos-aerie-brand-built-on-body-positivity-and-inclusion-is-slowly-edging-out-sexy-supermodel-juggernaut-victorias-secret/">lingerie competitor Aerie</a> all made efforts toward greater inclusion. They feature plus-size models, transgender models and models with disabilities in their stores and online campaigns. </p>
<p>Each brand has been rewarded with public kudos and a flurry of consumer purchases. Yet others in the industry lagged. Despite Victoria’s Secret’s latest inclusion and diversity efforts, models with disabilities were missing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women with diverse bodies wear bikinis and hold signs that read 'fashion for every body' and 'We want diversity on our runways.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Undressed activists in swimsuits with posters that read ‘fashion for every body’ and ‘We want diversity on our runways’ on the street during London Fashion Week in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Embarking on diversity initiatives</h2>
<p>According to our new study, <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F14695405211022074">A model who looks like me: Communicating and consuming representations of disability</a></em>, the $3 trillion fashion industry has, until recently, paid little attention to gender, sexuality, race and disability. </p>
<p>We ask how and why the industry almost suddenly embarked on diversity initiatives. </p>
<p>We focus our attention on disability because it’s traditionally seen as <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/02/13/why-disabled-people-have-been-forgotten-by-the-fashion-industry">inconsistent with fashion</a>. The industry largely saw a person with disabilities as someone who can’t embody, reflect or convey beauty. In other words, disability would turn off consumers.</p>
<p>Our analysis over five years of three mainstream fashion magazines - <em>Vogue</em>, <em>InStyle</em> and <em>Harper’s Bazaar</em> - revealed not a single person with a disability appearing on the cover. A look at 2,500 ads in <em>InStyle</em> turned up similarly little. </p>
<p>So we turned to the recent and well-known Nike, Aerie and Tommy Hilfiger campaigns that featured a diverse cast of models, including those with a range of visible and non-visible disabilities.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1225902142462054402"}"></div></p>
<p>Tommy Hilfiger’s campaign went a step further. The brand developed <a href="https://usa.tommy.com/en/tommy-adaptive">adaptive clothing specifically designed for people with disabilities</a> — a step few others have taken. </p>
<p>This inclusion, though hugely important, often comes with more “sanitized” depictions of disability – creating images thought to be “more palatable” to consumers. </p>
<p>We found that editorials often reinforced distinctions between “ability” and disability, suggesting that disability is something to be overcome. For example, when athletes were praised for pushing the limitations of their disability. Sometimes, no photos of people with disabilities were included in editorials about them. When models with disabilities were included, they were often treated as too unremarkable to dress in brands referenced by the magazine’s editorial staff. </p>
<h2>Disability, diversity and inclusion efforts</h2>
<p>So why has disability become a more significant part of the fashion industry’s diversity and inclusion efforts?</p>
<p>Some brands take the leap, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahkim/2020/01/31/aerie-disability-representation/?sh=329e933250bd">challenging beliefs about potential consumer backlash</a>. They lower perceived risk as other brands follow suit. Risk, though, is also lessened when <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/tommy-hilfiger-spring-2018-adaptive-collection">consumers respond favourably to more inclusive initiatives</a>, sending a message to the industry at large. </p>
<p>We analyzed more than 200 online consumer comments about <em>Teen Vogue’s</em> “<a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/jillian-mercado-runway-debut">The New Faces of Fashion</a>” campaign that featured three models with disabilities: Chelsea Werner, Mama Cax and Jillian Mercado. We found that an overwhelming majority of consumers gave praise and admiration. </p>
<p>One viewer thanked <em>Teen Vogue</em> for “making great changes.” Another, eager for inclusion, wrote: “Let’s see this on a regular basis, please.” Brands like Dove Beauty and <em>Allure</em> left comments on the magazine’s Instagram page.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BnWAaypnMVF","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>In response to <em>Allure’s</em> praise, one viewer called on the magazine to “join the Inclusion Revolution too.” It wasn’t long after that Allure announced its own series on “<a href="https://www.allure.com/topic/the-beauty-of-accessibility">the beauty of accessibility</a>,” positioning Ellie Goldstein, a young model with Down syndrome, on the cover of their digital print magazine.</p>
<h2>Poised for a reboot</h2>
<p>Away from social media and after more than a year in lockdown, the fashion industry is poised for a reboot. Couturiers <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/dior-show-celebrates-fashion-up-close-personal-after-pandemic-2021-07-05/">like Dior</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/jul/06/begin-again-chanel-returns-first-major-live-shows-pandemic-paris-haute-couture">Chanel have convened</a> in Paris for the industry’s first set of in-person shows since the pandemic began. </p>
<p>As Victoria’s Secret and others set about reimagining the world that will be, we wonder what the “inclusion revolution” will look like — and whether people with disabilities will continue to be part of it. </p>
<p>We should look to industry leaders for signs of lasting change, but consumers matter too. They must continue demanding that fashion and beauty brands engage meaningfully with their efforts towards diversity and inclusion. </p>
<p>These demands will need to move beyond casting calls and runway models. They must include boardrooms and brand teams – those who ultimately influence and make decisions about what consumers see and purchase.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Pettinicchio receives funding from SSHRC</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Foster receives funding from the Government of Ontario and from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Victoria’s Secret learned a lesson other leading fashion brands and the industry at large are coming to realize: diversity sells. But when it comes to disability, brands aren’t quite there yet.David Pettinicchio, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of TorontoJordan Foster, PhD Student, Sociology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1006032018-08-08T20:08:34Z2018-08-08T20:08:34ZWhy some veterans feel alienated on campus and how universities can help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230522/original/file-20180803-41338-1n6r7m8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=3%2C0%2C1019%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Discipline, leadership and time management are some of the positives veterans say they bring to their studies. But not everyone has a chance to demonstrate these.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/44693311@N05/15892238135/in/photolist-qdkSHM-ha2Ag6-9pZycd-ar5aZd-nLkeWE-aikuZT-bRxfra-bX314o-bRxhS6-aiouvL-ar3LHs-9pYPdY-8g3nSc-UvJ6r7-8UxkpF-ar3wmL-ar2TTi-ht7dBp-7HVkvw-9wbG1B-pVUu4i-ar2uei-aUyvXM-bX2Esb-ar1qip-azjskM-9obcus-rc1Qtv-mJXUqJ-7mWFLM-28Z7vwc-nmdj86-hzuMH5-5xE5gj-aUyvRD-9pM58L-TatzfX-htCYa6-7zG9o4-8e2akB-aAx7Fp-p6ABHm-21Fgy3W-pFLBKn-nyg9Wo-8Vm6FG-d1ibP-bAGhA3-aHpmFP-8ViAgD">rekrsoldier/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some veterans say they find campus alienating, don’t feel they belong and fail to disclose their military status when they enrol, according to one of the first snapshots of Australian veterans’ experience of university.</p>
<p>While most veterans <a href="https://www.latrobe.edu.au/cheedr/publications">we surveyed</a> were satisfied with their university experience, our research highlights what universities need to do to better, from admission to completion. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/six-ways-to-improve-equity-in-australian-universities-61437">Six ways to improve equity in Australian universities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>The transition to civilian life is often difficult for the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/VeteranSuicide/Report/c06">5500 or so</a> military veterans discharged from the Australian Defence Force (ADF) each year.</p>
<p>As the <a href="https://www.minister.defence.gov.au/minister/marise-payne/media-releases/safer-australia-budget-2018-19-defence-overview">defence budget</a> climbs towards 2% of GDP, more young veterans will transition to civilian life. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bringing-the-war-home-the-rising-disability-claims-of-afghanistan-war-vets-56021">Bringing the war home: the rising disability claims of Afghanistan war vets</a>
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</em>
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<p>Veterans face relatively high rates of <a href="https://create.piktochart.com/output/21845816-veteran-employment-report-final-conflict-copy">unemployment</a>, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Foreign_Affairs_Defence_and_Trade/VeteranSuicide/Report">disability and mental health risks</a>. One pathway to new careers and financial independence is through higher education. </p>
<p>The Australian Department of Education and Training collects no specific data on the number of veterans enrolled in higher education or their success, retention and outcomes.</p>
<p>We surveyed 240 university student veterans with the <a href="http://www.asva.org.au/">Australian Student Veterans Association</a>. </p>
<p>Most were in their 30s or 40s, male and about one-third had a disability, impairment or long-term medical condition that may affect their studies.</p>
<h2>Access is the first hurdle</h2>
<p>Although many veterans earn both military and civilian qualifications from their military service, including diploma-level awards, few universities provide credit for these.</p>
<p>Veterans are not considered one of the <a href="https://docs.education.gov.au/node/45221">six equity groups</a> in Australian higher education. They typically receive no admission bonus points, special consideration, or recognition of prior learning for their service.</p>
<p>An exception is <a href="https://www.qtac.edu.au/">Queensland</a>, where all universities agree to equate military service to an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR). Under this system, different types/length of military service are given entrance ranks.</p>
<p>We also found that veterans were unlikely to: feel prepared for study; receive support from their institutions to settle into study; or see orientation activities as relevant and helpful.</p>
<h2>What does success look like?</h2>
<p>Once enrolled, most student veterans surveyed felt positive about university life. 94% would recommend university to other veterans. </p>
<p>One respondent noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>University is very challenging and gives you a huge sense of achievement when you finish. Also helps you move forward and realise that your military service doesn’t necessarily define you.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Veterans also identified strengths they brought to study. These included discipline, leadership and time management. These skills were perceived as central to academic success, particularly given student veterans are relatively likely to have family responsibilities and/or a disability.</p>
<p>The presence of student veterans on campus can also benefit other students. As one student noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… the skills and attributes developed in the ADF will make you very competitive at an academic institution. The values and life experience you bring will also benefit all around you.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Isolated and unappreciated</h2>
<p>Despite these strengths, many student veterans do not feel a sense of belonging on campus. Some of our respondents felt isolated, and many felt university culture was not respectful or appreciative of military service. Only one third of respondents disclosed their military status to their institution.</p>
<p>One fifth of respondents were not comfortable discussing their military experience at university. Nearly one third felt their university was not “veteran friendly”. One student advised:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(Try) not to get involved with political conversations as many students who haven’t served, and haven’t seen the world, hold very immature viewpoints and don’t understand how veterans think.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What can we do better?</h2>
<p>Universities could recognise military service at admission. Institutions could work with tertiary admissions centres to equate service to ATAR levels, as agreed by the Queensland universities. This process alone would lead to a substantial increase in student numbers. </p>
<p>More broadly, universities could introduce financial support for student veterans, including bursaries, fee waivers and scholarships. Identifying veterans on university enrolment forms would enable demographic, success, and completions data to be collected.</p>
<p>The Australian Student Veterans Association has chapters on several university campuses. Expanding those chapters and other support groups would provide valuable resources and peer networks. Better promotion of disability services, counselling and other services would also help.</p>
<h2>Let’s harness diversity</h2>
<p>Our research confirms that veterans often enter university with life experiences, strengths, and perspectives different from those of other students (and staff). </p>
<p>This diversity can create high social and academic value. A diverse student body can provide a <a href="https://www.aacu.org/publications-research/publications/making-diversity-work-campus-research-based-perspective">stimulating and creative intellectual environment</a>. As such, it has the potential to improve the university experience of all students.</p>
<h2>Invest for the future</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/forevergibill.asp">US</a>, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/enhanced-learning-credits-further-and-higher-education-scheme-changes">UK</a> and <a href="http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/services/transition/education-training-benefit">Canada</a> all invest significant resources in supporting military veterans to access and succeed at university.</p>
<p>This investment has been shown to have financial benefits overseas. For instance, US veterans with bachelor degrees earn an average <a href="https://ivmf.syracuse.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/I-AM-A-POST-911-Student-Veteran-REPORT.pdf">US$17,000 more each year</a> than their non-veteran counterparts.</p>
<p>Similar benefits are likely in Australia given the <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/graduate-winners-assessing-the-public-and-private-benefits-of-higher-education/">typical financial advantage</a> of graduates.</p>
<p>But more than a financial gain for individual veterans, access to and success at university for veterans is an equity issue. </p>
<p>The difficulties of transition to civilian life are well documented. By accepting more veterans, universities could assist this transition while simultaneously improving the learning experience of all students. </p>
<p>Higher education should be accessible to those who have served in the defence of the nation.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors wish to acknowledge advice and support from Matthew Sharp, co-founder of the Australian Student Veterans Association, and Matthew Wyatt-Smith, CEO, Australian Student Veterans Association.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100603/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Harvey received funding from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs through the Supporting Younger Veterans grant program.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Andrewartha received funding from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs through the Supporting Younger Veterans grant program.</span></em></p>While many military veterans do well on campus, not everyone feels welcome or their views matter. Here’s what universities can do better.Andrew Harvey, Director, Centre for Higher Education Equity and Diversity Research, La Trobe UniversityLisa Andrewartha, Senior Research Officer and Senior Project Coordinator, Centre for Higher Education Equity and Diversity Research, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/750042017-03-23T15:03:30Z2017-03-23T15:03:30ZThe ANC isn’t ready to radically transform the South African economy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/162158/original/image-20170323-3542-dmfi18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa's economy was built on strong mining activity which has declined in recent years.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s nothing radical about trying to fix what doesn’t work by making it work better, which is why the <a href="http://www.anc.org.za/sites/default/files/National%20Policy%20Conference%202017%20Economic%20Transformation_1.pdf">economic transformation</a> discussion document released by South Africa’s governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), is not really radical. </p>
<p>The document is also unlikely to renew the economy, ensure that more people are included and create conditions for sustained growth.</p>
<p>It was released recently as part of the ANC’s preparation for its conference at the end of this year. They’re always preceded by a mid-year policy conference, which is meant to agree on resolutions to be put to the conference. </p>
<p>It’s ANC practice to release policy discussion documents in preparation for these meetings – hence the economic document. The party’s leaders point out that it doesn’t express ANC policy since delegates at the conferences could reject it. But it does give an important sense of the thinking of the party’s economic policy strategists.</p>
<p>In keeping with the current ANC rhetoric, the document stresses the need for <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-odd-meaning-of-radical-economic-transformation-in-south-africa-73003">“radical economic transformation”</a>. It says proposals for change should be judged by whether they</p>
<blockquote>
<p>radically and systematically improve the lives of those who are excluded and marginalised.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The document is filled with good intentions and worthy ideas. But it fails the test.</p>
<h2>More of the same</h2>
<p>The problem is that it ignores calls to seize land or rein in ‘white monopoly capital’ - the themes of today’s “radical” rhetoric. These demands are either ploys by patronage politician’s eager to get hold of resources or slogans pretending to be concrete recipes for change. It’s not radical, nor will it achieve its stated aim, because it doesn’t suggest ways of moving the economy from its current pattern which has produced low growth and continues to exclude millions.</p>
<p>Like both sides in the economic debate, it doesn’t seek a new path which will include millions more. Instead, it keeps alive the forlorn hope that the excluded can be absorbed into an economy built to exclude them.</p>
<p>Perhaps the clearest sign of this is the discussion on employment. The document endorses the <a href="http://www.gov.za/issues/national-development-plan-2030">National Development Plan’s</a> target of shrinking formal unemployment to 6% by 2030. It says this will be achieved by lowering costs, increasing investment and improving energy generation, transport and water supply. </p>
<p>All would no doubt be widely welcomed. But all assume that the current system can be made to work better and so there’s no need to change it.</p>
<h2>Tweaks are not enough</h2>
<p>The specific remedies which the document proposes lack the required innovation too. These include minerals beneficiation, incentives for manufacturing, reducing red tape, more training, more emphasis on research and development. They all assume that the economy needs tweaking, not changing.</p>
<p>Even where it proposes measures which seem more radical – “set asides” for black businesses or speeding up land reform within the confines of the constitution – the document doesn’t challenge the current framework.</p>
<p>And so, despite some rhetoric to the contrary, it doesn’t get to grips with the core reality that the formal economy is still an insider club which excludes millions. It’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-must-tackle-dominant-firms-to-achieve-better-wealth-distribution-68759">dominated</a> by too few players engaged in too many cosy networks, many racial patterns persist and potential in the townships and shack settlements is squandered. A core reason is that both the old economic elite and the new political leadership assume that the economy will reach its potential when everyone has what whites had in the 1960s – full employment and a stake in the formal economy.</p>
<p>This ignores two realities. First, the apartheid economy worked for the minority because it excluded most people; it can’t be extended to everyone. A real break with the past would mean negotiating changes which would bring in many new players and dropping the prejudice that wealth can be created only by formal businesses protected by a host of rules. This means accepting that people who make a living outside the formal economy are a potential solution, not a problem, if they receive more support.</p>
<p>Second, the days in which manufacturing and mining could create millions of jobs are gone: the formal jobs the document wants to create are disappearing across the globe. The question is not how to get them back but how to ensure that everyone can make a living without them. </p>
<h2>Ducking the key question</h2>
<p>A sign that the document ignores inclusion is that it has nothing to say about township business besides a throw-away line about reducing costs. So a key question – how to link people in townships and shack settlements into the formal economy – is ducked. This despite the fact that it offers a far more credible way out of poverty than reviving jobs which are gone. </p>
<p>Nor is there anything about how to <a href="http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/608/156277.html">revive mining areas</a> hit by the loss of jobs which will never come back. Or on how to stimulate economic activity for people who 20 years ago would have worked in factory jobs which have gone forever. And so there’s nothing on ensuring that formal business and government strengthen economic activity on the ground rather than snuffing it out.</p>
<p>There isn’t much on the education and training needed to help people adjust to new realities. Or programmes to boost grassroots livelihoods – such as grants and local infrastructure. </p>
<p>Only two proposals address these issues: the document calls for more effective rules to boost competition, and for changes to the settlement patterns in cities, which relegate the poor to the fringes where they are shut out of the mainstream economy. </p>
<p>But neither proposal is fleshed out. It’s therefore fair to question how much of a priority they really are. </p>
<p>The ANC discussion document on economic transformation isn’t radical enough not because it refuses to substitute slogans for thinking. Rather because it doesn’t break with an economic debate which – on the left, right and centre – is about how to keep current patterns alive, not how to change them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75004/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steven Friedman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The economic transformation discussion document released by South Africa’s governing party, the ANC, fails to be radical.Steven Friedman, Professor of Political Studies, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/706722017-01-17T17:11:41Z2017-01-17T17:11:41ZSouth Africa’s universities can do more to make disabled students feel included<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153007/original/image-20170117-23075-10d9rmu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not enough just to enroll disabled students at universities. They need particular support.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s been a decade since South Africa signed and ratified the <a href="http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/convention/convoptprot-e.pdf">Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities</a>. The convention is an international human rights treaty that’s supposed to protect the rights and dignity of people with disabilities. But not much seems to have changed for South Africans with disabilities since 2007. </p>
<p>About <a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2014/09/09/2.9-million-South-Africans-are-disabled-Stats-SA1">2.9 million</a> South Africans – around 7.5% of the total population – live with some form of disability. Those with disabilities make up <a href="http://www.dhet.gov.za/Research%20Coordination%20Monitoring%20and%20Evaluation/6_DHET%20Stats%20Report_04%20April%202018.pdf">less than 1%</a> of the total student population.</p>
<p>A group that is still struggling to enjoy fairness and justice in how they’re treated are university students with disabilities. I conducted <a href="http://scholar.ufs.ac.za:8080/xmlui/handle/11660/3870">research</a> to understand more how such students cope. As part of my study, I interviewed 14 students from two South African universities. I wanted to hear about their daily experiences and to find out how they’re included – or not – in making decisions about their education and opportunities. </p>
<p>My research shows that the few students that are admitted at South African universities still feel excluded within these institutions.</p>
<h2>Understanding “inclusion”</h2>
<p>One of the things I wanted to unpack was how “<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19452829.2015.1101410">inclusion</a>” is understood and defined. </p>
<p>It is often assumed that including people with disabilities in public projects is good; excluding them is bad. But this approach fails to question and capture the subtle dynamics within an agenda of “inclusion”. Proper inclusion implies multidimensional support that is financial, social and academic in nature and extends to policies. It is not enough to consider physical access and the very presence of students with disabilities “inclusive”.</p>
<p>My research <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Oliver_Mutanga2/publications">showed</a> that very few students with disabilities feel “included” at South African universities. </p>
<p>The other challenge with the current notion of inclusion within South Africa’s higher education system is that students with disabilities are all lumped together as a homogeneous group. Authorities adopt a “one size fits all” approach to disability rather than seeing that there’s a difference between a wheelchair user and someone who is visually impaired. Students with disabilities are not all the same. They have some things in common, of course. But they also have different needs and preferences. </p>
<p>Universities are reluctant to change any of their systems or structures. The sense from university authorities appears to be that students with disabilities must “fit in” to existing structures rather than institutions changing to accommodate them.</p>
<p>Education authorities seem to think it’s enough to offer financial support. One example of this is the National Student Financial Aid Scheme’s (NSFAS) <a href="http://www.nsfas.org.za/content/DisabilityBursary.html">bursary</a> for students with disabilities.</p>
<p>But money is not enough to guarantee inclusion. The students I interviewed said that universities’ day to day operations and systems perpetuated structural and ideological barriers. At one of the universities, only one of the halls of residence, which catered for postgraduates, could accommodate students with wheelchairs. This left wheelchair-bound undergraduate students feeling isolated from their peers.</p>
<h2>Students feel undervalued</h2>
<p>The students I interviewed reported feeling undervalued and somehow “impaired”. What can be done to ensure such students feel genuinely included?</p>
<p>Universities must move beyond measuring inclusion based only on the numbers of students with disabilities they’ve enrolled each year. Instead they must work to create more equitable, just education for students with disabilities. To do so, each institution will need to undertake a careful, rigorous process of enquiry into how different barriers emerge and are reproduced. Without a broader understanding of disability, it will be difficult to engage with the complex ways in which inequalities emerge and are sustained. </p>
<p>This can be achieved. One of the institutions on which I based my research, the University of the Free State, has put in place several initiatives to help students with disabilities. Its <a href="http://www.ufs.ac.za/supportservices/departments/student-affairs-home/center-for-universal-access-and-disability-support-(cuads)/overview-home">Centre for Universal Access and Disability Support</a> provides specialised support services including an amanuensis (scribe) service during tests and exams, accommodating extra time and individual tutor sessions. </p>
<p>Other universities are also improving their systems for students with disablities: the University of Venda <a href="http://www.univen.ac.za/index.php?Entity=Univen%20Disability%20Unit">offers</a> Braille printing and computer training to students with disabilities. </p>
<p>Genuinely including students with disabilities provides for the development of appropriate attitudes towards diversity and the creation of environments where every student, including those without disabilities, will have the opportunity to flourish in their university endeavours.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70672/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Data from this article is taken from the author's project that was supported by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation of South Africa, grant number 86540 when the author was doing his doctoral research at the Centre for Research on Higher Education and Development, University of the Free State. The author is now based in Norway where he is affiliated with Institute of Health and Society, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo.</span></em></p>Many students with disabilities feel excluded from daily university life and the assumption is that they, not the institutions, must change.Oliver Mutanga, Marie Curie Fellow, University of OsloLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/580972016-04-25T09:31:27Z2016-04-25T09:31:27ZParkrun is an important movement – and should remain free for participants<p>There has been a huge public response to the <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/news/2016/04/13/little-stoke-parkrun-update/">recent decision</a> by Stoke Gifford parish council in South Gloucestershire, England, to charge parkrun for providing free running events in local parks.</p>
<p>Parkrunners have taken to social media to mobilise support. Over 56,000 people have signed a <a href="https://www.change.org/p/stoke-gifford-parish-council-keep-little-stoke-parkrun-in-little-stoke-park">petition</a> in protest. The Little Stoke parkrun team subsequently cancelled the event citing concerns about safety and the impact on the park if large numbers of people turned up for a protest run. Little Stoke parkrun now intends to appeal the decision, however, and is looking into the <a href="http://www.parkrun.org.uk/news/2016/04/13/little-stoke-parkrun-update/">legal basis</a> for doing so. </p>
<h2>Not a sports club</h2>
<p>By charging fees, the parish council is treating parkrun in the same way as local sports organisations that pay to use the park and generate their own funds from fees and grants. Despite the fact that Sport England held up parkrun as a <a href="http://www.sportengland.org/news-and-features/news/2016/january/28/help-us-shape-sport-englands-future/">model of community sport</a>, however, it receives no government funding. </p>
<p>Parkrun is different from traditional sports organisations in a number of ways: there are no membership fees and, with only a small paid staff, growth is driven by volunteers across the country who run weekly events. As a new kind of hybrid organisation, parkrun differs from sports clubs or commercial fitness groups. It is a not-for-profit that relies on sponsorship and corporate branding, with central boards of governance and local event management. </p>
<p>At the heart of the parkrun ethos is the desire to create opportunities for participation – free, socially oriented, open to all. But does a free event automatically mean that it is actually inclusive? Our research highlights the complex challenge of creating a “parkrun family” in which the aims of health promotion, sport and social connection co-exist.</p>
<h2>There’s no typical parkrunner</h2>
<p><a href="https://runresearch.wordpress.com/author/runresearch/">Our research</a> has sought to understand why <a href="http://www.parkrun.com/">parkrun</a> is so successful and how it engages with groups who are less likely to be active. </p>
<p>Through interviews and surveys across four different UK parkrun sites, we found that people who take part have many different motivations for doing so, including meeting people, competing, getting fit and improving mental health. Parkrun offers an experience of running together that both reflects and challenges traditional notions of running as being primarily about competition. </p>
<p>Skill and ability are not the basis of involvement. In interviews, parkrunners spoke of belonging to something bigger than themselves, of sharing the pain and pleasure of running with people who have vastly different athletic abilities. Body size, age and disability aren’t factors in who can take part – adults and children are able to participate at their own pace. The inclusive format enables people to walk, wheel or run together. Even pets are welcome. </p>
<p>Parkrunners also spoke of the importance of social diversity. Different participants commented on how they valued the “social interaction with others that I would not meet at other times” and the “community spirit, belonging, it becomes part of your life”.</p>
<p>Parkrun has a high rate of female membership (about 50%) which stands in stark contrast to many other sports in the UK. Framing parkrun as “a run not a race” invites the participation of women and others who don’t identify with stereotypical views of running. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119855/original/image-20160422-17405-1k51u9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/119855/original/image-20160422-17405-1k51u9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119855/original/image-20160422-17405-1k51u9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119855/original/image-20160422-17405-1k51u9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119855/original/image-20160422-17405-1k51u9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119855/original/image-20160422-17405-1k51u9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/119855/original/image-20160422-17405-1k51u9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Parkrun: looking to go beyond this stereotype.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?lang=en&language=en&ref_site=photo&search_source=search_form&version=llv1&anyorall=all&safesearch=1&use_local_boost=1&autocomplete_id=&search_tracking_id=KGALwh0M3pKjjsbL1irg2A&searchterm=jogging%20man&show_color_wheel=1&orient=&commercial_ok=&media_type=images&search_cat=&searchtermx=&photographer_name=&people_gender=&people_age=&people_ethnicity=&people_number=&color=&page=1&inline=251032747">www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not perfect, but trying</h2>
<p>Nevetheless, while parkrun is free and seeks to be inclusive, challenges remain. Our research identified fewer parkrunners from non-white British backgrounds, for example, even in areas of high ethnic diversity. However, parkrun volunteers are developing strategies to address this issue.</p>
<p>In an effort to be more inclusive, parkrun volunteers are building relationships with residents in council estates, offering volunteer guides for parkrunners with visual impairments, translating parkrun information into other languages and selecting more diverse images to use in social media promotion. These local activities can feed into broader parkrun strategies to strengthen the focus on free and inclusive events.</p>
<p>The value of parkrun is not just about health or the <a href="https://profmikeweed.wordpress.com/">economic benefit</a> of running, but also the creation of new social relationships that connect people in public places. Charging fees threatens to undermine the efforts of parkrun to be inclusive. Funding issues arise at the local level because local councils are not required by law to prioritise the funding of public parks and leisure services despite <a href="http://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/improving-publics-health/access-green-and-open-spaces-and-role-leisure-services">research</a> that identifies the importance of access for all. </p>
<p>Little Stoke parkrun may seem like a local issue, but it’s actually an important test case for English local governments which have a responsibility to support equitable public health and community well-being.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58097/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simone Fullagar has undertaken research that has been approved by the parkrun research board and funded independently by Cancer Research UK @run_research. She is a parkrun member. </span></em></p>A parish council’s decision to charge parkrunners for using their parks may seem like a storm in a tea cup – but it’s an important test case.Simone Fullagar, Professor, Sport and Physical Cultural Studies, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.