Intersectionality and Inclusion
How do you build inclusion from the ground up?
People with albinism face discrimination across the globe but are often left out of activist efforts around diversity and inclusion.
In this episode, we spoke to representatives of Sesame Street Workshop, who have been championing diversity for years. With a breadth of expertise in the art of embracing diversity, this insightful look into the world of Sesame Street gives us new ways of approaching our goals. Supermodel and activist Diandra Forrest also joined the conversation. Fellow guest speaker Stephan Bognar, Executive Director of New York Dermatology Group Foundation, completes the line-up. They worked together previously on the Colorfull campaign, which was conceived by NYDG to highlight the prejudice that albinism attracts.
The campaign offers a case study in understanding what it takes to build a global movement for awareness and acceptance of a marginalised community – from funding, to stakeholder buy-in, to managing transnational political sensitivities, to navigating issues of representation and the risk of tokenism.
Sesame Workshop, the non-profit entity behind the internationally beloved children’s television show Sesame Street, is creating a new character with albinism, bringing needed visibility to this condition and creating awareness among children and their caregivers. The stakes are high: in some countries where Sesame Street broadcasts, young people with albinism are subject to violence, live in fear, and can be forced to live apart from their families or communities.
