Diversity

What is diversity?

di•ver•si•ty : noun: pl. di•ver•si•ties
The fact or quality of being diverse; difference; A point or respect in which things differ. - American Heritage Dictionary

Why is Diversity important?

Diversity doesn’t just affect individuals or certain segments of the population, it affects everyone. It goes well beyond race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation. Diversity includes the entire range of the human experience, including age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, economic status, disability, country of origin, geographical location, political affiliation, physical size and appearance. All of this influences how we view and experience the world around us and how we interact with others.

DIVERSITY MISSION: Our goal is to “Increase inclusion & diversity considerations in all we do.

COMMITTEE CHAIR(S): Roscoe Scott, Gale Spells Bellamy, Patrick Jamison, Ta-Tanisha Crumble, Shauntel Neal, Crystal Heard, Carole Guess

FUNCTIONS OF THE DIVERSITY COMMITTEE

Leading the effort to develop a long-term and integrated approach to diversity and inclusion for DSI across all organizational levels:

Keeping diversity and inclusion issues in the fore-front of Board and daily operations of DSI.

Actively engaging in the education, support and assessment of DSI’s diversity and inclusion efforts.

Offering advisory support to other DSI committees’ in an effort to make progress toward focused, agreed upon diversity and inclusion goals that fit into the mission the organization.

Acting as a conduit between DSI and underrepresented populations within the Down syndrome community, the Diversity Committee will transmit ideas and proposals, submitted to it by representatives of those populations, which further the goals of a diverse and inclusive organization to the DSI Board for discussion and consideration.

NDSC 2009 CONVENTION PRESENTATION:

The following two downloads provide information from the diversity presenation at the 2009 NDSC Convention in Sacramento.

Click here to download the presentation.

Click here to download the handouts.