The Inclusion Pool Paradox
[Music]
i’d like to s
start by
saying that i have a
stutter and
i’m using a
breathing technique
to
control it
so i hope
you like
suspense
why a show of hands
who here has ever felt
uh
excluded
due to being different
a lot of you
i can relate
growing up
with a
severe stutter in lebanon
i
avoided speaking
almost
entirely
out of
the
the fear
of being judged
in fact in
[Music]
my second year here
at mcgill
i
begged
all of my professors to
exempt me
from every
single
presentation
why engage the world
when
i could hide
in the
isolating
yet
comforting
cocoon of my own
silence as
[Music]
as you can imagine
i’ve been
really
excited
about the
[Music]
growing
significance of the diversity
and
inclusion
movement
in society
however
if
our approach to
dni
causes more guilt
than growth
there might be
[Music]
a better way
of doing it
when we only
focus
on making people
hyper aware
[Music]
of
the
differences
and we stop there
we
are merely
labeling
people who are different
while sending everyone else the
the message
that
they have to
anxiously
walk on eggshells
whenever they are around
those individuals
out of the fear
of hurting them
therein lies the concept
that i’ve called the
inclusion
pool
paradox
but before i
elaborate further
i’d like to share a
story
with you
all when i was
14 years old
in spite of the extreme
shyness
that resulted from having a
stutter
i’d
decided to s
celebrate my birthday
with all of my
classmates
at a s
sports club
in my neighborhood
we had this unusual
tradition in lebanon
one that i always found
incredibly silly
and
childish
whenever
a birthday
party
was thrown at night
and next to a pool
all the guests
would
conspire
to
throw the birthday kid into the pool
with all their
clothes on
after a
pleasant
thinner by the pool
with my classmates
the time
was approaching
for that the
the
dreadful tradition to unfold
what
was i
thinking
having my birthday
in the location
where i was going to get
completely drenched
i should have known better
and then
time
elapsed
and i remained the
drier than the
sahara
in fact
nobody was even mentioning or
acknowledging
the
tradition
as they
would have done at every other
per tape
party by a pool
wait
why isn’t
anyone
attempting
to throw me in
time and time again
i had witnessed
this
boorish and
senseless
tradition take place
before my eyes
and
while
a part of me
was relieved
to have been
off the hook
a significantly
larger
part of me was wondering
why am i not deemed worthy
of being thrown into
the pool
did all of
my classmates
equate
my
stuttering with
over
sensitivity
did they
simply assume
that i go through enough obstacles
without
them having to impose upon me
this form of
fraternal hazing
do they not
think of me
as being one of them
and then
one of my childhood friends
sensing the
[Music]
bitter sweetness
of my victory
yells my name out
jose
why
[Music]
hasn’t anyone
thrown you in yet
he
r
rushes to towards me
and we begin wrestling
until
my eventual
descent
into the pool
the water was cold
my clothes and shoes made it to
the difficult
for me to
quickly
s
swim back up to the
surface
what a
stupid tradition
i thought
with a big
smile
on my face
you see
inclusion
is not about being treated with
artificial niceness
all the time
inclusion
is not
people having to
walk on eggshells whenever they are
around you
out of
the fear of
hurting or
offending you
inclusion means
you get thrown into the pool too
thank you
thank you