A trainer with ADHD argues that cutting DEI programs would devastate disabled workers and veterans who rely on government-funded vocational training. He runs classes in photography, video editing, and website building that help neurodiverse people and service-connected veterans gain employment and independence.
Hey, I want to talk to you real quick about DEI.
DEI?
Now, a lot of people, when they think DEI, they think, hey, we're gonna, you know, stop all the, all the colored folks from taking the white people's jobs.
They took our jobs! Yeah, they're down!
Um, but I think even if you're deeply racist and problematic like that, you probably need to think about who else is affected. One group that is affected is, um, the disabled. I Help with vocational training for folks with disabilities. I myself have ADHD, which comes with a number of different issues, including auditory processing issues. So if you say something to me and I say, what? What? Okay. Most of the time it's not because I didn't hear you, although sometimes it is. I need extra time for my brain to process what you said to me because that's just how my brain works. Well, that's a disability. A lot of the folks that I work with, their issues are things that are, you know, a little more serious than, than those that I have. Despite that, I've helped successfully train folks so that they could go out and be photographers' assistants, potentially sell their own photography on the side. You might not know this, but a lot of people that are neurodiverse with ADHD or autism spectrum disorder are under or unemployed. So being able to make things and sell them ourselves is something that is super helpful. I've also trained people so that they could go out and edit videos, edit photos, and actually build websites, because that's something else that I do a little bit. The point is, I'm not the only person that is teaching these folks. They have coaches that help them to be independent when it comes to grocery shopping, when it comes to how to do their laundry, right? When it comes to how to interface with professionals to ask for a job, right? It's things that help these folks, but they need some accommodations. So if you target the EI programs, especially government-funded ones, what tends to happen is programs like the ones that help pay for the classes that I teach for folks with disabilities get cut, which means that these folks with disabilities end up with little to no vocational training. No understanding of how to grocery shop for themselves, um, and they're left to sort of fend for themselves a lot of times. So if, you know, if you care at all about people, um, then maybe realize that this whole anti-DEI thing is, is probably not the right place to be. And if there's one group that maybe you do care about, then maybe you'll think about them, and that is veterans, military vets, Because there are a lot of military vets that went and fought, that were in combat, and that were disabled as a result of that. So yeah, so what I'm saying is— So what I'm saying is— If you care about troops, if you know anybody who needs a, uh, any sort of accommodation, please recognize that all this anti-DEI rhetoric is really harming those people. Thank you, uh, and I hope to see you again.
