Giving Everyone the Same Thing Isn’t Fair

Someone told me once that treating everyone exactly the same was the fairest way to run things. I remember staring at them, trying to work out how to explain what was wrong with that in one sentence.

Here’s my attempt now. Equality hands everyone the same ladder. Equity asks how tall the wall is in front of each person first.

I’ve needed things other people didn’t need to do the same job, reach the same goal, sit at the same table. That’s not me asking for special treatment. That’s me asking for the actual same outcome everyone else gets automatically.

When people push back on equity, what they’re usually defending, whether they realise it or not, is a system that already works fine for them. It’s easy to call a level playing field fair when you were never standing in a ditch.

I don’t think equity is complicated. I think it’s just honest about the fact that people start from different places.

Where have you had to ask for something different, just to get the same shot as everyone else?

If you’re tired of asking quietly, Self Advocacy Unleashed gives you the words for asking clearly. Join the waitlist.

Madeleine x