Rashael Kelly-Jarvis highlights the impact of representation and the importance of intersectionality.

Rashael Kelly-Jarvis is an Associate in our London office and the co-chair of Shine, our employee network group which focusses on removing assumptions, barriers and challenges faced by people with visible and invisible disabilities.

This is a cause close to Rashael’s heart, having been diagnosed during her time at university with a condition that means the way she learns is different. Rashael notes that “from diagnosis it was a lightbulb moment. The support I never knew that I could have started coming in and really helped to change my approach to how I learn and work.”

Whilst this is an aspect of Rashael’s identity, she notes that “no-one is just ‘one thing’. Our identity should not just be seen in isolation. These things are not separate, it is all intertwined and makes us who we are. I am Black, I am a woman, I have this condition, I am a parent – all of these things make up who I am, they impact what I experience and how I navigate life.”

That notion of identity is in the spotlight for Rashael during Black History Month, having been thinking a lot about visibility, particularly visibility of Black people with disabilities.

“People like Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, they’re exceptionally talented musicians, and their performance is enhanced through the additional perception that their blindness gives their other senses. Your disability can mean you view something differently, or have a different perspective, and you can excel as your brain works in a different way – Stevie Wonder can’t see, but he can hear keys on the piano and feel the vibrations.”

Perhaps a very British experience from the 2000’s, Rashael comments on seeing adverts for the BBC with a Black wheelchair user performing stunts and trick shots and thinking “that he was just so cool!”. It was only years later she knew it was Ade Adepitan, a Black-British wheelchair basketball player. “Having him be so visible and present on primetime TV, I think was so important for representation for both the Black and disabled communities. Without that visible representation, you might not know that people like this exist.”

But there are many other Black people where it may go under the radar that they have a disability. “Maya Angelou, the poet and civil rights activist, known for her writing and her speeches – she had selective mutism when she was younger. Something I just did not know. It’s interesting as often you see a person’s achievements, but you just don’t know that there could be experiences that they’ve faced or challenges they’ve overcome.”

In addition to visibility and representation of minority communities, Rashael highlights that the involvement of everyone in conversations about disability or race is vital. “Allyship is essential. If everyone isn’t involved in the conversation, they’re not hearing or seeing the stories from the community, then nothing is going to change. People will just live in their own bubble and think ‘everything is fine’.”

“One thing I want people to take away, is to be aware of the barriers that some people still face in society or in the workplace. It’s not that you’re unable to do your job because of your condition. You are. It’s just that maybe the way that you learn is different to others. But you are still more than capable.”