A Place for us all
It's 2022. Employers can no longer only hire white men without consequence, and we are beginning to make a dent in the racial and gender disparity that exists in the American workplace. Persons living with a disability must be considered for jobs when reasonable accommodations will make it possible for them to complete the required duties of the role. We still have a ways to go in terms of employers always hiring and managing employees within the scope of the law, and the laws still leave a bit too much room for interpretation, but I am proud to live during a time where the voices of change are finally being heard.
As a child of Hispanic parents, growing up in Miami, I never felt too different. I grew up around people from all over the world and I saw people with my skin tone and last name in positions of power. It was not until I moved further north for college that I realized Miami is nothing like the rest of Florida. There was indeed plenty of prejudice around. This was the first time that insults had been hurled at me based on my ethnicity. I didn't know how to feel other than hurt and confused. Oddly enough, the insults came from an Italian woman who had been raised to forget where she came from. She forgot her native language and rarely admitted she was not born in this country, attributing her tan skin to too much time spent in the hot Florida sun.
If anything, this interaction reminded me how much we should be celebrating our differences. How blessed was I to grow up in a place where I tasted Turkish pastries, Cuban black beans, and Jamaican jerk chicken. We played African marble games just as often as we played ping pong and we learned more about culture at recess than some people learn in a lifetime. As an adult, I have had to remind myself more than once that some people have only lived around people who look just like them, practice the same religion, and have the same sexual orientation as them. Sadly, this can make it unlikely for them to be accepting of anyone who does not fit into that very small box.
It's not always a reflection of someone's heart, but more often a veil that they have been taught to keep over their eyes. Don't throw flames back at the person who "didn't know better" than to call you crippled unless you first tried to teach them. The more we ask and get a seat at the table, the more we equal the playing field for everyone. I can't imagine a more beautiful world than that where we all work together and embrace each other's differences, learn from each other and teach our kids to do the same.
