Promoting diversity, equity and inclusion via your physical workplace

There’s a topic that often gets overlooked in conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion, and that’s the physical working environment. This is something that we at Momentum have been working to change, and also what motivated us to sponsor Filene’s recent report on DEI in the physical workplace Bridging the Spatial Divide, authored by Bukky Oyedeji, Ph.D., at the University of Texas.

Inclusivity in the workplace has roots in the accessibility movement. The Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990 was a major win for accessibility, but accessible designs often fail to be inclusive. This is where universal design came in, with seven principles to create better inclusivity.

While the universal design principles create more accessible facilities, much more untapped opportunity exists to better include not just differently-abled people but also a whole spectrum of diversity—from race, gender, religion, sexual orientation and neurodiversity to things like job function and seniority.

 

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