In the United States, I have noticed a growing awareness and acceptance of DEI—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
What began with efforts to eliminate discrimination based on gender, age, and sexual orientation has expanded to include a greater focus on the inclusion of people with disabilities.
Recently, I have encountered five experiences and stories that have deepened my understanding of what inclusion truly means.
I would like to share them with you.
1. CODA: Supporting Dreams Beyond Differences
This year’s Academy Award winner for Best Picture, CODA, tells the story of a young woman who is the only hearing member of her family.
She dreams of becoming a singer.
The irony is that no matter how beautifully she sings, her family cannot hear her voice.
Yet despite this barrier, her family and community come together to support her dream and help her achieve it.
When I first watched the film, I was deeply moved. It brought me to tears.
The story reminded me that inclusion is not simply about recognizing differences. It is also about supporting one another’s aspirations, even when we experience the world in very different ways.
2. Extraordinary Attorney Woo: Changing How We See Autism
Another example is the popular Korean drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo.
The series follows a young autistic woman who becomes a lawyer and demonstrates remarkable talent in her profession.
Her legal abilities are impressive, but what makes the character especially compelling is her unique, sincere way of seeing the world.
A friend of mine who has an autistic son recommended the series to me.
She told me that the actress’s portrayal of Attorney Woo—including her gestures and mannerisms—reminded her so much of her own son that the show gave her greater hope for his future.
I found that particularly meaningful.
When more people become familiar with the ways autistic individuals may communicate, move, or express themselves, those differences may begin to seem less unfamiliar.
Rather than reacting with discomfort or curiosity that makes someone feel singled out, people may learn to accept these differences as natural variations in human behavior.
I believe that this growing understanding is an important step toward genuine inclusion for autistic people.
3. BBC Travel Programs: Seeing Ability Rather Than Disability
I have also been impressed by travel programs produced by the BBC in the United Kingdom.
In these programs, presenters with disabilities travel around the world, energetically introducing viewers to different countries, cultures, and experiences.
One presenter uses a wheelchair.
Another has a growth-related disability that results in very short stature and was born without hands.
Viewers might wonder how someone without hands manages everyday activities such as eating.
The program shows exactly how the presenter does so.
Similarly, when the presenter who uses a wheelchair encounters steps or other obstacles, the program shows how they communicate with people around them, ask for assistance when necessary, and continue their journey.
What strikes me most is their energy, confidence, and determination.
They approach their work with enthusiasm and a positive attitude, without allowing their disabilities to define who they are.
Through these programs, I sense a strong commitment from the BBC to treating presenters with disabilities as capable professionals and supporting them in doing their jobs.
Their disabilities are part of who they are, but they do not define the limits of their abilities or contributions.
To me, that is an important expression of inclusion.
4. A Job Interview That Challenged Assumptions
Another memorable story came from an American HR consultant who previously worked with our company.
One day, her organization was interviewing several candidates for an administrative assistant position.
One of the applicants had an arm that ended at the elbow.
Although my colleague was an experienced HR professional, she admitted that she was initially surprised.
She found herself wondering:
“How would this person type emails?”
She knew she needed to evaluate the applicant fairly, but she was unsure how to approach the question without making assumptions about the person’s disability.
Eventually, she showed the candidate the job description and asked:
“Are you able to perform all of these job responsibilities?”
The candidate answered:
“Yes.”
My colleague did not ask how the applicant would type or perform individual tasks, recognizing that questions focused unnecessarily on the disability could be inappropriate.
The candidate’s qualifications, experience, and skills closely matched what the company was looking for.
So the company hired the applicant.
When the new employee arrived for work, they used a prosthetic arm and carried out their responsibilities smoothly and efficiently.
The story offers a simple but powerful lesson.
We should evaluate people based on their qualifications and ability to perform the job—not on assumptions about what they may or may not be capable of doing.
Sometimes, the greatest barrier is not a person’s disability but the limitations of our own imagination.
5. Developing Disability Awareness Training for New York City
My final experience is one that had a particularly profound impact on me.
Two years ago, our company was contracted by the New York City government to develop an e-learning course titled Disability Awareness.
New York City has an agency called the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD).
Its mission includes ensuring that the voices, needs, and perspectives of people with disabilities are reflected in city policies and services.
The e-learning course we helped develop was a project of great importance to MOPD.
The goal was to provide approximately 300,000 New York City employees with the knowledge, awareness, and workplace etiquette needed to interact and work comfortably and respectfully with people with disabilities.
It was designed to help create a more inclusive workplace throughout the city government.
What made this project especially meaningful was that people with disabilities were directly involved in developing and reviewing the training.
They were not simply the subject of the course.
They were active contributors to its creation.
The people who wrote, reviewed, tested, and provided feedback on the course included individuals who were blind, deaf, had low vision, or had growth-related disabilities.
Some had distinctive speech patterns or ways of communicating.
They carefully tested the accessibility of the e-learning platform and provided detailed feedback.
Could the course be completed without using a mouse?
Were the captions accurate and accessible?
Did the navigation work properly?
Were there features that created unnecessary barriers?
Which elements needed to be changed or removed?
Their feedback helped us understand accessibility challenges that we might otherwise never have recognized.
We also worked with a voice-over artist who had low vision.
For me, this project became a genuine education in disability awareness.
It was not simply about creating a course that explained disability inclusion.
It was about learning directly from people with disabilities and recognizing the expertise they brought to the project.
And there is an interesting ending to this story.
Of the four MOPD employees with disabilities who worked with us, two were recruited by other organizations or companies before the project was even completed.
Was this simply because the United States is such an open and inclusive society?
Not necessarily.
The answer was much more straightforward.
They possessed valuable skills that other organizations needed.
And because of those skills, they were offered new opportunities to advance their careers.
What Inclusion Really Means
Reflecting on these five experiences, I have come to see inclusion as something much more meaningful than simply acknowledging or accommodating differences.
It means creating environments where people are recognized for their abilities, talents, perspectives, and potential.
It means questioning our assumptions about what others can or cannot do.
It means removing unnecessary barriers and providing people with opportunities to contribute fully.
And perhaps most importantly, it means recognizing that people with disabilities are not simply individuals who need to be supported—they are also talented professionals, colleagues, and leaders who have much to contribute.
True inclusion is not about treating people differently because of their disabilities.
It is about ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to participate, contribute, grow, and be valued for who they are and what they can do.
That, to me, is the true meaning of Inclusion in DEI.