Diversity Week 2022: Bigger and better than before

The beginning of February is usually a special time on the Yale-NUS College campus.

Since 2018, Diversity Week has been a hallmark of the College’s campus life, presenting opportunities to have open and meaningful dialogues during the week-long event. The event seeks to foster a safe space where individuals can engage on topics and ideas that are new, unfamiliar and possibly a little different.

This year, events included “Storytelling Session with Orang Laut,” an intimate story and food sharing session from a descendant of one of Singapore’s indigenous communities, and a music performance organised by Instructor of Humanities (Music) Churen Li, alongside a dialogue with Composer-in-Residence of the Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Wang Chenwei, whose works are known for transcending cultural boundaries. One such composition is Confluence, which represents the vibrancy and harmony of Singapore’s multi-racial society.

In addition, virtual events such as the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Practice” fireside chat on Zoom enabled students to engage with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) professionals from various organisations who shared about their personal journeys and challenges working in the DEI space.

Student attempting to sign based on cues given by SADeaf presenter. Photo by Rachel Tey for Yale-NUS College.

The “Deaf Awareness Programme” by Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf) also demystified some misconceptions around deafness, deaf culture and sign language. According to Associate Dean of Students Cory Owen, both this programme and the “Deaf in a World of Masks” lip-reading challenge helped to build empathy for others by trying to understand another person’s experiences. “Taking one minute to try to lip read can give you a glimpse into the challenges faced by the Deaf and Hard-Of-Hearing (HOH) community,” she said.

Such events are part of the efforts by the Student Accessibility Support team to spread more awareness about accessibility needs on campus. Accessibility was also one of the main themes of Diversity Week this year. “We started doing workshops on a small-scale last January with the Residential College Advisors and have continued to increase opportunities for the entire campus to engage in conversations around access and equity…There’s always more work to do, but we’re excited that opportunities such as Diversity Week allow for a deeper dive into these topics,” said Associate Dean Owen.

Rachel Tey (Class of 2024), who attended the SADeaf event and lip-reading challenge, said that learning about the Deaf community and how their day-to-day lives are different from hers was very eye-opening.

“I appreciated how I was able to take on diversity from multiple points of view. I enjoyed seeing the diverse identities and communities in the College on display and having the space to make conversations with friends about their experiences in context of the different aspects of diversity. I’m glad that I was able to get to know people on a deeper level, and found myself making space for important conversations,” Rachel added.

The College also launched a new campus accessibility map this week. Assistant Manager (Intercultural Engagement) Annette Wu, a Yale-NUS alumna from the Class of 2017, explained that the map project began with the creation of the Student Accessibility Support office, which works to give students with physical, cognitive, and psychological conditions the best possible chance at academic excellence and provide accessibility support.

Map communicates complex information in the most intuitive way possible. Photo by Desmond Lee for Yale-NUS College.

Under the stewardship of Associate Dean Owen, the Student Accessibility Support office identified a gap in available campus maps. “The new map provides crucial information about barrier-free access routes or information on accessibility features. Although a map cannot change the physical environment, it can improve users’ experiences, allowing individuals to plan navigation and to identify necessary services such as accessible and all-gender toilets,” said Asst Manager Wu.

Together with Ishmam Ahmed (Class of 2023), an Urban Studies major, the team mapped the campus, research accessibility maps, and created and reviewed countless prototypes. The new map helps improve users’ ability to identify accessible features on the College’s campus, such as accessible and all-gender toilets, Quiet Room and Lactation Room. It also identifies and helps to better plan and work out routes away from features which can act as barriers, such as stairs and manual doors.

Yale-NUS students also discussed accessibility issues, ableism and other biases they faced on campus and in the wider world on a hybrid panel “Holding Point: A Panel on Kingfisher Access Issues”.

Holding Point panel, with Yihui as one of the panellists (second from the left). Photo by Desmond Lee for Yale-NUS College.

Philosophy Major Xie Yihui (Class of 2023) highlighted the importance of these discussions to ensure diversity and inclusion. “I am thankful that we had a platform for disabled students on campus to share their concerns about access and to openly discuss what it means to be disabled in general. I found it interesting that our experiences converged and diverged, which demonstrated the complexity of disability and the need to always learn and relearn,” Yihui said.

Another mainstay of Diversity week was the Heritage & Community Night Market, which made the night of celebration sweeter with savoury national snacks from all over the world.

Booth featuring snacks from the Philippines. Photo by JX Soo for Yale-NUS College.

Karel Nareswara Devananda (Class of 2025), a student organiser from the Yale-NUS Southeast Asian Society, enjoyed trying to come up with different activities and snacks that showcased a sneak peek of his own culture. As an overseas Indonesian for the last few years, Karel felt quite proud of what he was able to share. “Especially when people reacted to various trivia about Indonesia – it felt great to see how they were surprised by unexpected pieces of information about my home. I really enjoyed how everyone was able to enjoy the food we served. I got so many people asking me where I even got it from!” he exclaimed.