The link between Disadvantage and Perception
Do you perceive your own Disadvantages?
A recent revelation
One of the most striking things we've learned recently is that we were making some incorrect assumptions about Disadvantage.
In short, we had assumed that Disadvantage has a sort of objective scale which is understood by everyone in a uniform way.
We were making the following types of assumptions:
Some people are more disadvantaged than others
There are many people who are more disadvantaged than us
And then, crucially, we were combining those with the following assumption:
The people who are more disadvantaged know that they are more disadvantaged
But the reality is that what one person considers to be a Disadvantage is often not considered to be a Disadvantage by the person who experiences it.
Doesn't that seem a little odd? Surely if someone is experiencing hardship, they know about it?
Well, not always. Let's take an example.
An example from a recent conversation
I recently had a conversation with someone who by age, profession and to a large extent personality is directly comparable to me. In fact, she was about to join my former employer, and prompted by that connection, we were discussing both of our current areas of interest and questions.
It struck me how smart she was. Her questions were insightful; her considerations were thoughtful. She has great work experience in the space already, and she was preparing herself in advance to embark on what will clearly be a successful journey in her new job. She's excited about what's ahead for her, and I enjoyed that she gave me the chance to share that excitement with her.
So it also struck me that despite our same age, similar traits, and adjacent years of experience in the same profession, she was about to join my former employer at the level below what I had been, which is effectively 4-5 years behind me. And this new role did still constitute a promotion for her, from her current role.
How could that be the case?
And even more so, how could she still be so excited by it, I wondered?
Perception of Disadvantage
We talked about Disadvantage for a while during that conversation - given it's a key interest of mine at the moment. Asking about her general background, I privately formed the perspective that she had been less fortunate than me in her education. She had also not had the help I had in landing a relevant internship (through personal connections) to kick-start her career. I did not mention my experiences in either of these things.
But when I asked her whether she felt she had experienced Disadvantage, her response was that she had not - and that there were others who were much more disadvantaged than she was. In fact, she said she felt relatively privileged in lots of ways - with an inspirational working mother, a strong family, and a great career. She told me that perhaps my product would be better targeted at people who really have experienced Disadvantage.
It was only when we dug a little deeper (and I am so grateful to her for being so open with me in doing so) that she started to see that there might have been some disadvantages in her journey. She proposed that there might have been things relating to her state-funded schooling that have held her back by comparison to her peers. Her university friends all landed graduate jobs upon graduation because they had a confidence that had been instilled by their private schools. By contrast, she had had no guidance or coaching as to how graduate assessment centre processes worked - and it felt overly intimidating at the time. This meant she had to spend a few years in a job she didn't like after graduation, until her confidence grew enough to pass an assessment centre for a job she really wanted. She resented it at the time, but the resentment has now subsided because she's happy with her progress since then.
She also mentioned that she endured a level of bullying at school by other people of colour about her own skin colour. And that that was really hard at the time. But in the same breath, she recognised the skills in emotional resilience that this helped her develop at an early age - and acknowledged that they have helped her in the workplace ever since. She identifies, she said, to a certain extent with the Black Lives Matter movement - and she is highly motivated to be involved with diversity and inclusion initiatives as an extracurricular to her day job. I was inspired by her intentions for the diversity and inclusion space, and I suspect it'll form a great part of her career story.
Taking stock
So reflecting on this conversation a number of times since, I realised a few things:
It is a privilege only of the privileged to be able to perceive the opportunities (such as personal connections that land internships) that those at a Disadvantage are not being given
It is possible to feel fulfilled by your own success, even if others believe that you have been at a Disadvantage
Disadvantage snowballs over time - e.g. an education-limited confidence at graduation can delay a career by 4-5 years ten years later
Having a can-do, proactive attitude that does not dwell on difficulties or disadvantages almost certainly helps you to be successful in the face of those hardships
Movements like Black Lives Matter can empower individuals with a platform that can become a form of advantage
What does this mean for EquAIty?
It means that we have work to do in figuring out how to attract people whose lack of privilege means they don't actually perceive their disadvantage - because those are some of our target users
It means that we need to be tactful in the way we help people see the personal disadvantage they've never seen before - in order to help them weaponise it for greater personal success
It validates that there are brilliant people out there who are compelled to overcome disadvantage - and we can focus on helping them to achieve their greatest potential
Which assumptions are we going to change?
The key assumption we'll change is that people at a disadvantage always know about that disadvantage. In reality, being able to perceive disadvantage is all about having access to advantage. What I see as a disadvantage might be different to what you see as a disadvantage - on the basis of which advantages we've each had access to.
There is almost definitely still a spectrum of disadvantage - from worst to least bad - but it's much less linear, and much more nuanced than we originally considered. For EquAIty's mission to work, we must together with our users create the ability to democratically determine the spectrum of Disadvantage - because no one person is ever going to be able to perceive, much less prioritise, the whole spectrum alone.
And finally, where movements like Black Lives Matter exist, it provides an empowering framework of principles and educational material for people to uncover whole new ways of understanding and defining their identity. It also creates the opportunity to perceive Disadvantage you wouldn't otherwise be readily introduced to. I know for myself that it is only through reading so much material about gender and race that I have started to be able to perceive the injustices around me - and understand the gender-based Disadvantages I myself experience on a day to day basis.
So EquAIty will be embracing these kinds of movements, because it is important for our users to be able to perceive their Disadvantages if they are going to be able to weaponise them for greater personal achievements in their careers.
Thank you
Thank you once again for reading this - and I hope there is something you can take from it.
Do reach out via the forms on this site if you're interested, or even if you just have a question or suggestion - it is through your interactions and insights that this will learn and evolve fastest.
Until next time,
- C