About

I'm Ashleigh Sternes, founder of The Equilyst.

I've always asked why.

Why things are done a certain way.

Why systems work the way they do.

Who they work for – and who they don't.

I don't stop asking until the answer makes sense.

I've always felt a deep sense of difference.

As a queer, late-diagnosed Autistic woman, I'm used to adapting to a world that wasn’t built for me.

At work, that looked like minimising or ignoring my needs, forcing myself to conform at the expense of my comfort, extending myself beyond my capacity to the point of collapse, and being grateful for the minimum anyone should expect.

And I realised something:

The problem isn't difference. It's systems that aren’t built for it.

Systems are designed for most, not for all.

They're often rigid and don’t account for people outside the norm.

They are built to:

simplify
categorise
generalise
exclude

And when they encounter someone with an experience that requires a different approach, they:

deny access
implement a workaround
adjust just enough to make you fit the system

But I'm not interested in adjusting systems.

I'm interested in questioning them.

Real change doesn't come from adding people to broken systems.

It comes from designing better ones.

Good systems are designed for everyone.

They bend and flex around the wonderful complexity of the human experience.

And they're not dependent on the people in charge of the system making the right decisions.

An employee's ability to get the support they need to work at their best should not be contingent on having an inclusive leader. The system should support them regardless of who is interacting with it.

My work is for the people systems weren't built for.

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