Minnesota Department of Human ServicesDisability Services DivisionOne DHS People, Access and Culture
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Understanding. Relationships. Action.

From learning to equity in practice

The program supports a shift from overlooking meaningful differences toward acceptance, adaptation, and the sustained integration of equity into everyday relationships and practices.

Begin with a question that matters to you. Explore at your own pace, move between resources, and return when another perspective or a practice opportunity would help.

A question. A perspective. A meaningful change.

From learning to equity in practice

Explore a question that matters, make room for different experiences, and practice a meaningful change. Follow a pathway or begin with the resource you need.

  • Make participation meaningful →

    Move from a shared invitation to conditions where different people can contribute and influence the work.

    A meeting is open to everyone, but whose ideas actually shape decisions?

  • Make access work in practice →

    Examine the experience behind a form, conversation, or service step and adapt the practice around it.

    A process is available to everyone, but what does it require people to do?

  • Understand a different perspective →

    Develop curiosity, examine familiar assumptions, and adapt interactions without making people into categories.

    When another person responds differently than you expect, what else might be happening?

  • Change a decision or process →

    Connect affected perspectives and evidence to alternatives that address barriers in the way work is organized.

    Which decision is open to change, and who benefits or carries the burden of the current approach?

  • Help learning become everyday practice →

    Create opportunities, relationships, and routines that support people in using what they learn.

    What makes it possible for a person to try a different approach after a course or conversation?

How learning becomes practice

  1. Engage

    Begin with a question, experience, or relationship that matters to you.

    Consider: What would you like to understand or change, and why does it matter?

  2. Recognize

    Notice experiences, differences, and barriers that a familiar approach can overlook.

    Consider: Who experiences this differently, and what have you not yet heard?

  3. Examine

    Explore the assumptions, evidence, routines, and decisions shaping the situation.

    Consider: What are you treating as normal or fair, and what evidence could challenge that?

  4. Practice

    Rehearse a different response and learn from constructive feedback.

    Consider: What could you say or do differently, and how could you try it safely?

  5. Apply

    Make a proportionate change with the people and support needed to carry it out.

    Consider: What will change in practice, who can influence it, and what support makes it possible?

  6. Reflect and sustain

    Examine what happened, adapt, and carry useful learning into the next situation.

    Consider: What changed for people, what remains uncertain, and what will you keep or adjust?

How the program contributes to change
  1. Resources and relationships: Curated knowledge, lived perspectives, accessible tools, time, expertise, and willing colleagues.
  2. Learning and practice: Engagement, reflection, dialogue, rehearsal, feedback, and supported application.
  3. Useful outputs: A clearer question, a revised interpretation, a usable tool, or an agreed action.
  4. Changes in practice: Evidence that people adapted communication, participation, decisions, or routines.
  5. Intended longer-term contributions: More equitable access and influence, a more responsive workplace culture, and learning carried into future work.

A resource delivered, an approach used, and an improvement observed are different kinds of evidence. Time, access, support, decision-making authority, and people’s willingness to participate affect what becomes possible.

Learning with other people

A willing colleague can help you examine an assumption, rehearse a conversation, or reflect on an experience. Leaders can make time for practice, respond constructively to questions, and change routines that prevent people from using what they learn.

Research informing this approach

These research perspectives inform the design. They do not establish that this program has produced an outcome. Participation or completion alone does not measure an individual’s IDI orientation or development.

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