Diversity and Inclusion Matters

Chapter 16Top Challenges for DE&I Professionals

Voices Telling You What You Can't Do

Years ago, we attended a birthday party with my son, Justus. I believe one of his friends was turning ten. This particular party was held at a local university that had a climbing wall. All the kids at the party were given a chance to try the climbing wall while one of the university's students belayed them (held the safety rope).

All of the kids attempted the climbing wall with varying degrees of success. The university students belaying the kids were very helpful and tried to direct the children to the route up the climbing wall that best suited their abilities to climb the wall. Justus was one of the last kids to get a chance to go up the climbing wall. Justus had some climbing experience and was familiar with the procedure to put on the gear and strapped everything on relatively quickly.

Justus then put on a big smile and looked at the twenty-something-year-old guy that was belaying him and said, “Which is the most difficult route up the wall?” The young man seemed a little tickled by Justus's courage and said, “Well it is what we call the crack, but I would not recommend you try it. The crack is very difficult, and I can only make that route on my best days and even then, sometimes I can't make it!” This seemed like a good enough reason for me to have Justus take another route because the college student was over six feet tall and very athletic looking. The college student had also mentioned ...