Discovering the abilities behind the disabilities

[DesireeCH]

We sometimes need to see the world through another person’s eyes in order to rethink some of our perceptions. In the right environment, with the right conditions, disabilities can be overcome. We can all do the same things, just differently.

The Embrace Inclusion employee resource group (ERG) set up in Bucharest aims to foster a more diverse workforce, to drive inclusion and positive change by increasing the percent of vulnerable groups in the total number of the employees working in the center.

During the last few months, several events encouraging the inclusion of people with disabilities took place in our center in collaboration with Erika Garnier, Project Assistant at “Mobility and Independent Living for people with disabilities in Romania”.  Erika herself is a wheelchair-user, with an impressive resume and a wealth of experience. Her life is an inspiration and she is one of the very positive and successful people with disabilities.

Erika met with HPE employees and managers to raise awareness regarding disabilities, providing an understanding on how attitudes towards person with a disability employees are formed and teaching us how to approach abilities and disabilities from the viewpoint of “cans” rather than “hows” and consequently to evoke empathy and not sympathy in the relationships with people having a disability.

Wheelchair Basketball

Our employees also had the opportunity to become wheelchair users for an afternoon and play in special exhibition basketball games with wheelchair users. During these games we were immersed in a world where our wheelchair friends were at home on the playground and we were the persons with a disability, trying to play a game that we were familiar with under slightly different circumstances. This little lesson in empathy made the equality between us clear and made us realize there are many ways in which human beings can adapt to challenges.

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Learn more about the authors:

Patricia Costea

Patricia Costea | EMEA Collections Director and Embrace Inclusion Lead
“I am very happy to contribute to a more inclusive and diverse center in Bucharest by leading and participating in this project. I am a firm believer that we are all equal in what we can achieve irrespective of how we need to adapt”.

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Anca Maria Sandu

Anca Maria Sandu | EMEA Credit Manager and Embrace Inclusion Lead
“If I could choose just one reason out of the many countless reasons why being part of Embrace Inclusion is such a special experience, it would be the unique mix of a typical workday combined with all the abundant opportunities available for my soul transformation. Like this, I had days when I got deeply inspired helping others and feeling useful. As well, each person that I worked with, not only chooses to be here, yet they really love their work”.

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Monika Georgescu

Monika Georgescu | Collections Manager and Embrace Inclusion Treasury Officer
“This has been an amazing journey from the first moment when I learnt about the opportunity to enter the ERG group. This experience has changed the way I see the world and made me open my eyes to a totally different perspective. Also, this was a great professional development. While acting as a Finance Chair, I had an opportunity to exercise the attributes close to being a CFO of a small business. Budgeting, planning, being a trusted adviser to the group leaders – all this made me feel being part in something special!”

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Ana Maria Tvichi

Ana Maria Tvichi | Pointnext DXC EMEA Sub-region Manager and Embrace Inclusion Communications Officer
“Being part of Diversity and Inclusion ERG had a greater impact on me and my career than I would think. It helped me in the first place, understand the value of differences, and after that in promoting inclusiveness and raise awareness about diversity within my organization”

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