Our Work Initiatives Equity, Diversity and Inclusion with Tapestry

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion with Tapestry

Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) are foundational to effective, impactful and sustainable health research. EDI considerations ensure that:

  • Health research appropriately reflects the diversity of needs and experiences of the populations the research aims to serve.
  • Research participants are engaged authentically.
  • Research outcomes can benefit everyone accessing healthcare, especially those who have been historically underserved.

The resources on this page are not designed to be prescriptive, nor do they contain formulaic answers to complex questions in EDI work. Instead, they present a variety of perspectives about how EDI considerations apply to various institutions of work, research and learning, and introduce practical tools to guide integration of these considerations in everyday life.

Meaningful change extends beyond meeting compliance standards and checking boxes. We hope the resources on this page provide valuable beacons to guide anyone interested in embedding EDI considerations into their work and daily lives, helping us work towards equity collectively.

Explore Tapestry:

The Tapestry Tool

Resources on this page are presented using the Tapestry Tool – an innovative, online learning platform that allows users to make visual connections between diverse interactive and multi-modal content.

The name “Tapestry” is inspired from story quilts, an art form used by cultures around the world to tell stories, often using images, sound, scents, and textures.

A digital tapestry is similar to a story quilt. It contains multiple, interconnected media types that can be generated collaboratively to tell a narrative or share knowledge.

The Tapestry Tool was chosen to:

  • Honour the diverse knowledge-holders that contribute to equity, diversity and inclusion work.
  • Dismantle traditional linear and unidirectional learning structures by recognizing that learning happens through association, and that knowledge is not created or consumed in a vacuum.
  • Present knowledge in diverse formats – including videos, podcasts, text and interactive exercises – to cater to various learning styles.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Curriculum

Illustration of what post-it notes on a light pink background. Symbols related to EDI have been drawn on the post-it notes, including two speech bubbles in English and Japanese, a passport, a person with their hand over their heart, a bathroom sign with a man and woman, different religious symbols, a small hand in a big hand, a wheelchair sign, and a transgender symbol.
Primer on EDI considerations
A top-bottom illustration of three people sitting around a table, and a fourth approaching. At the table, there is one person in a chair with flashcards, one using a wheelchair and one person with a service dog beside them and a headset in front. The person approaching the table is using a walker. There is also another person in the room using a wheelchair, and one using a mobility or white cane.
Creating accessible and inclusive event spaces
Illustration of three smiling people, drawn in a sketchy style. Each person's brain is visible in a different colour, with different patterns inside each one, to demonstrate different and diverse thinking styles and neurodiversity.
Neuroinclusion in research and workplaces
Illustration of a bar chart, where the vertical bars are represented by stacks of books and diverse people standing of them. Above the bars are coins and bills.
Guide to EDI considerations in research and funding
Illustration of four polaroids taped against a wall. Each polaroid shows a different person smiling.

Coming soon: Measurement through an EDI/SGBA+ lens

A stylized illustration of curved shapes on a yellow background.

Coming soon: Advancing Indigenous perspectives in EDI

Methods for Supporting Diverse Patient Engagement in a Diverse World

As part of the BC SUPPORT Unit’s Patient Engagement Methods Cluster, this project created a suite of educational modules that are designed to support the inclusion of diverse people in health research.

Following community consultations and environmental scans, a team of academic researchers and patient partners co-created six modules. Watch co-leads Dr. Erin Michalak and Dr. Steven Barnes provide an introduction to the project:

We recommend starting with the primer module, then continuing to more specific modules that discuss considerations for engaging with d/Deaf, disabled, rural and remote, LGBTQ2S+, and immigrant, refugee, racialized, and ethnocultural communities.

Illustration of diverse people conversing, their heads and conversation bubbles filling up the background.
Meet the Team (Methods for Supporting Diverse Patient Engagement in a Diverse World)
Illustration in a paper cutout style, with symbols arranged in a circle and surrounded by sparkles: a rainbow heart, a wheelchair symbol, a transgender flag, an Earth with a location symbol on it, a light-skinned person with short hair, a dark-skinned person with medium-long hair, a female symbol, and another Earth with location.
A Primer (Methods for Supporting Diverse Patient Engagement in a Diverse World)
Illustration of three people's facial profiles connected in a circle. Their eyes have not been drawn in. In the background are science and social science symbols like gender and sex symbols, DNA, a chemical compound, and a uterus and urethra.
LGBTQ2S+ Communities (Methods for Supporting Diverse Patient Engagement in a Diverse World)
A person in a collared shirt provides sign language on the right. On the left is an illustration of different people across diverse ages and backgrounds.
d/Deaf Communities (Methods for Supporting Diverse Patient Engagement in a Diverse World)
Illustration of diverse people celebrating as they knock a hole in a wall. One person with rainbow-coloured hair is celebrating, while the people on either side of them smile triumphantly while carrying a saw, hammer and sledgehammer. Two of the people are also wearing hardhats.
Disabled Communities (Methods for Supporting Diverse Patient Engagement in a Diverse World)
Illustration of many diverse people smiling, placed within the province of British Columbia.
IRRE (Immigrant, Refugee, Racialized and Ethnocultural) Communities (Methods for Supporting Diverse Patient Engagement in a Diverse World)
A life-like collage made of paper and natural materials. The collage has the province of British Columbia cut out of paper, and scattered nearby are natural materials like feathers, wood and maple tree seeds, and a twig.
Rural and Remote Communities (Methods for Supporting Diverse Patient Engagement in a Diverse World)

Additional projects supporting EDI in health research and care

Collaborators have created additional modules as a part of separate projects to foster EDI in different areas.

Illustration of three people in front of a white brick building with the address 3678. Two of the people are conversing, both using wheelchairs and one holding a leash of a dog. The third person is standing and watches the conversation while smiling, also leashing a dog.
Fostering Diversity and Inclusion in Long-Term Care
Illustration of a small hand, likely a child's or a baby's, holding onto the thumb of a much larger hand, which is wrapped protectively around it.
Fostering Diversity and Inclusion in Perinatal Populations