Years ago while doing my Masters, some fellow students with dyslexia took their exams in separate rooms and were given more time to write them. This was for many reasons, one being they took longer to read. Some people without dyslexia protested saying this was unfair. They said they wanted equality, everyone treated the same.

In some schools, schools allow children with complex needs to bring a toy from home into school to help reduce the anxiety and outbursts of going from home to school. Some parents with children without complex needs complain it is not fair that their children are not allowed to do the same. They said they wanted equality, everyone treated the same.

None of the students complaining said it was unfair they did not have dyslexia. None of the parents are complaining their children do not have complex needs. Asking for equality when the current system setup works for people like you, isn’t asking for equality. It’s asking for continued inequality and discrimination. This is true in the digital world and the physical world.

Influencing people with these mindsets rarely works with intellectual arguments. Facts and science do not influence. Stories do. People do. Relationships do. My echo chamber will not help them. To influence them, we need to work within their echo chamber as that is what they believe to be true.

Just like we believe ours to be true.

Photo by Claudio Schwarz