Rigidity ruins resilience - what to do instead

Extending support to people in your network doesn’t have to be hard.

For example, I recently read an article written by McKinsey & Company that, at a few points, included this rare and beautiful message: “We strive to provide individuals with disabilities equal access to our website. If you would like information about this content, we will be happy to work with you. Please email us at…”

McKinsey & Company’s Accessibility Statement

I instantly forgave any minor incompatibilities between their content and the screen reader technology I was relying on to read it. A simple expression of the company’s preparedness to change their standard operating procedures to enable everyone to understand what they were trying to say is so valuable.

It is far easier to endure a digital landscape that often feels like it is purposely designed to exclude you when you come across expressions of support like this once in a while. Imagine how much better it would be if this kind of consideration could be taken for granted everywhere you went, in the real world and the virtual one. 

And it’s not only people with disability who need extra consideration sometimes. “Would you like somewhere quiet to sit, sir?” “Can I get you a glass of water, ma’am?” “Shall I read it to you?”

On one of my first weekends away from the brain injury rehabilitation unit that had been my home for months, I went with my family to mass at a Catholic church we didn’t attend often. I was using a wheelie-walker and, having arrived late, we were seated in the front row. When it came time for people to file forward for communion, the priest approached me where I sat to offer the eucharist while everyone else waited. Bless him.

You see, rigidity ruins resiliency. Yours and other’s. Loosen your grip on standard operating procedures and tighten connections with the real people around you.