I've always asked why.
Why things work the way they do. Who they work for – and who they don't. And I don't stop asking until the answer makes sense.
I'm Ashleigh. I'm a queer, late-diagnosed Autistic woman, and I've spent most of my life adapting to a world that wasn't built for me. At some point, I stopped asking how to make myself fit and started asking why systems function the way they do in the first place.
That question became a career. Nearly a decade working in diversity, equity and inclusion, the last five as a leader – developing strategy, analysing data, facilitating workshops, writing policy. The kind of work that sits at the intersection of people and systems and tries to make the gap between them smaller.
But honestly? The reason I do this work is simpler than any of that.
Life is hard. For a lot of people, it's harder than it needs to be. And if I can make it a little easier for other queer and disabled people to exist in the world – to get through the workday, to ask for what they need, not to have to fight so hard to be seen – that's enough for me.
That's what The Equilyst is. My attempt at making things a little easier.
Here I'll write about systems, inclusion, the workplace, and whatever else I'm thinking about. If that sounds like something you'd like to read, stay a while.