Diversity and Inclusion

I've raised this before, but it seems the forums are only for the percentage of the most literate people in Australia. I'm wondering if there's a way we can support those from CALD backgrounds (including refugees, asylum seekers) and those with accessibility needs. Or maybe even have links to take people to relevant CALD etc services?

I have to say I never thought of those that are unable to communicate.

However I do believe it’s supportive of all people in different walks of life. Religious, sexual orientation, ethnicity can all be judged out in the real world. But on the forums there is no judgement. Everyone is accepted for who they are.

I partly agree with @Captain24 I believe the forums are all inclusive of everyone in theory - members are certainly accepting of everyone and as a community we support everyone, but, we can also do better as @BPDSurvivor has also brought up some great points. As a text based medium, it also does exclude some people who are not literate in the English language, and would no doubt be hard for those with dyslexia to read. Can we have a 'sound' button attached to threads/posts where they are read for the viewer? A 'dictate' function would also be great so replies can be voiced verbally and then translated into text.

Oooo! That makes me think @Zoe7 . I guess a way around is that there are already voice to text functions on phones…

But then again, how phone friendly are the forums?

From what I know, a lot of people post from their phones. Maybe it’s about making the forums more phone-friendly?

I don't use a phone @BPDSurvivor so it needs to be across all devices. I know that 'dictate' is available on some PCs but if it was on the site itself then it would be easier to naviagte.

Hey @deshift ,

We'd love to hear your feedback here.

I think, unless people divulge their demographic, due to the anonymous nature of the forum, most inclusion is invisible, and maybe lots of people feel comfortable with it that way?

I think what is important is representation. When you see the front page, and it has "I'm Bipolar" "I'm This" or "I'm That" then those minorities are represented on the front page. People who can relate to that feel included, and those that do not see their minority expressed as often feel uncomfortable. Everyone has a lived experience here, that's for sure, but we all know and hopefully agree that not all stigma and discrimination is equal, some minorities have a harder time just being authentic and transparent in the fear of what is socially acceptable in response to their representation being celebrated - even amongst the lived experience community, and perhaps especially amongst it.


Due to the design of the front page, and a culture of tagging established forum users, a lot of people are going to feel not included at all, and I can imagine the retention rates of new users are fairly low. Given coupled with that, that most people who are bipolar, have little to nothing to say about domestic violence, unless their lived experience over laps, or unless they have developed a close bond as some of the forum users seem to have accomplished, they simply aren't going to engage in those posts/replies, and nor might they look for said conversation, and then again, not bother to reply if the thread seems outdated or no longer active.

The people that come through the front door are going to be very diverse, the people that stay, maybe not so much. From what I can gather, members of the public use this as a quick way to gather advice, maybe they've never accessed a mental health service before, and I don't think that should be the main priority of the forum. There should be a "READ ME" to say "We feel your pain, and we acknowledge you. But we are not a crisis service, and these are the places you should visit. This forum is intended as a community of support for those on the journey of recovery, and we suggest you start here.. etc."

I feel like the staff field a lot of fresh questions, self disclosed situations, that is time that could be better spent building a richer stable community for people from all walks of life. Most of the people who start a new thread want you to do all the leg work for them, when they could easily search for information themselves, or have that information provided to them in a FAQ type information article, and opening a new topic could be blocked for new users who have an account less than 24 hours old, or some appropriate amount of time.

(Also, the back-end required to include a voice to text, and vice versa is very time consuming, and most people in that situation I would assume have that capacity on their OS already.)