Reconstructing Inclusion S3E7: Designing Inclusion from the Inside Out with Dr. Jennifer Sarrett

Welcome to Season Three of Reconstructing Inclusion!

What if DEI was built the same way curb cuts were — designed for the most excluded and better for everyone as a result? In this episode, Amri Johnson sits down with Dr. Jennifer Sarrett, founder of Disruptive Inclusion, to explore why the inclusion field keeps falling short — and what a proactive, evidence-based alternative looks like.

Dr. Jennifer Sarrett brings a rare combination of backgrounds: autism advocacy, bioethics, medical anthropology, and public health. Her methodology, Organizational Culture Design, draws from Universal Design principles to build workplaces where access and belonging are built in from the start — not bolted on after a crisis.

🔥 Standout Quotes:

“How can we predict where there might be barriers to somebody or a type of person? And go ahead and design to increase accessibility that will funnel down or trickle down to increase accessibility for everybody. Without making it more difficult for anybody.” [00:08:00]

“The efforts often aren’t embedded. So they’re training programs, one-off things that aren’t really tracked internally or actually turned into action. The field of DEI isn’t very good at explaining to those in power how it works for them as well.” [00:28:00]

In This Episode:

[00:02:00] Introducing Dr. Jennifer Sarrett and her background

[00:08:00] Universal Design — what it is and why DEI needs it

[00:13:00] Reactive vs. proactive inclusion — where the field has gone wrong

[00:20:00] Social determinants vs. identity-category thinking

[00:28:00] What DEI got wrong about communicating to those in power

[00:35:00] Why research has to come before solutions

About the Guest

Dr. Jen Sarrett is the founder of Disruptive Inclusion, an organizational culture strategy firm. With a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies, her work bridges systems thinking, social science, and public health to solve complex people challenges. She also publishes Science of High Performance, a weekly newsletter on culture design in health and science.

Website: disruptiveinclusion.com

Personal site: jennifersarrett.com

LinkedIn: Jennifer Sarrett

#Inclusion #DEI #Leadership #OrganizationalDesign #Diversity #Neurodivergence

Let's Connect:

https://inclusionwins.com/

https://reconstructinginclusion.substack.com/

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