August 18, 2022
This is the transcript of Dwayne’s video update. You can watch his video below.
It’s Thursday, August 18th. Today I get to share by video because I want to update you about the listening sessions we hosted in February and June. And to tell you about those, I’m going to talk a little about belonging.
It’s a word that we use quite a bit within Christian Horizons. We believe that everybody, and particularly people with developmental disabilities, have gifts and talents that God has given them and that communities are better when people can participate and share those gifts and talents. When we contribute to and benefit from the community in this way, communities are better, and we are better.
Recently, I came across this meme online. 
This reminds me of something Dzidra Halar shared (Dzidra is the co-chair of the Our Voices Matter network) – “When organizations include us—they gain our trust and respect. I hope that one day there will be more changes that will improve the [Developmental Services] sector. Service users can help make those improvements. We can make things better. I hope organizations will accept us and our voices more and more, and we’ll become a team in designing services.”
Our mandate within Christian Horizons is about people who experience disabilities, again, particularly developmental disabilities. However, the concept of belonging is true for all of us. For me, I know I belong when I can share my gifts and talents, the unique person that is me, with those around me. So, while our mandate is about belonging to the people who use our services, it’s true for the rest of us too!
I’m reading a book by Shola Richards, called, Go Together. The main premise of the book is, ”ubuntu“, a Zulu word which means ”I am because we are”. He also references a widely shared African proverb that states, “if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together”.
My update is about our work around diversity and inclusion. Belonging is a big part of it.
Now, let me share with you a little about the Listening sessions from February (Black History Month) and June (Pride).
From the many stories that were shared at the listening sessions for Black History month, we learned that representation matters. Black employees want to see people who look like them in leadership. More than a year ago, we had an outside group, some of you might remember WorkWell, conduct a demographic survey. We didn’t get a lot of details from that survey, so this past spring, thinking about the fact ‘ that representation matters, we spoke with local leaders to get a better understanding of the diverse demographic in each community throughout Christian Horizons. Each Executive Director compared the diversity of their leadership teams with the diversity represented in their direct support professional teams. And since then, we’ve been working to ensure that our leadership is more diverse.
The recruitment teams have been actively advertising in places where candidates represent more diverse communities. And we’re making it a point to include postings for both direct support roles and for leadership roles.
This isn’t the only lesson that we learned from the listening sessions in February, but it’s the one that we could begin to act on.
In the listening sessions in June, we learned that employees from the LGBTQ+ community are looking for any indicator that the place where they are is a safe space and that they are safe with the person they are with. People are so used to being judged and not accepted that they hide who they are to avoid rejection. In our Inclusive Diversity course in the LMS, we learned that, generally, in the workplace, only 5% of people who are LGBTQ+ are open about their sexual orientation or gender identity. This is the opposite of belonging. At Christian Horizons, our mandate is about the people who use our services, but we know belonging matters for all of us.
We haven’t yet landed on a specific action following the June sessions. I am so grateful for the openness of those who attended those sessions to share their stories and allow me to be part of them.
Remember, if we want to go far, we must go together.
The pandemic has really been difficult. People have been ill, lost jobs, and lost their lives. People are grieving. I’d like to think that there’s one redeeming factor, not to minimize the loss – and that is that it caused us all to slow down enough to pay attention to what was happening in the world – racial division, gender and gender expression biases, the atrocities committed against First Nations people, and more.
I’m grateful for our founders, Rev. James, Adrienne, and Stephen Reese, whose work helped a group of people being “othered” to be able to come in from the outside, so to speak, to be part of a community together.
The Reeses’ example helps us today to recognize the importance of being in a community together. Christian Horizons has come this far over the past almost six decades because of the vision of belonging. These days we’re learning about other points of division, other people who are not experiencing belonging.
I am because we are. If we want to go far, we go together. We’ve got a long way to go. People who experience disabilities belong to communities where their God-given gifts are valued and respected, but people are still being ‘othered’. As we practice building bridges and creating spaces where people belong, whether it’s across the racial division, gender identity division, disability, or something else, it will help us to be able to stop the “othering” and start belonging.
We’ve come a long way. And we’re moving forward together.
Thanks for taking the time to watch this. I know it’s longer than usual. I’ve also included the text of this video for you to read if you wish.
Have a great day!
Dwayne Milley, Vice President of Operations