When growing up I was told “You catch more bees with honey than vinegar” but in which situations do I pull out the honey and when do I need to dig through the cupboard for vinegar?
I have reflected a lot on this statement since starting medical school and advocating for equal access to the spaces and learning opportunities that my classmates are granted without question. Since this is the 1st time my medical school has accepted a student in a wheelchair, their program has never been pushed to adapt. Often this has left me being the “go to person” for the question “how do we make this accessible?”. I often don’t mind this question but when I have 3 tutorials, a lab, 2 clinical skills sessions, and my regular lectures to prep for….I don’t have time to be the “go to person”. This strain on my time sometimes has me grabbing for the vinegar instead of the honey.
So how do you advocate in medicine for yourself and those who come after you?
In our professional competencies course, the concept of Calling In vs. Calling Out has peaked my interest around advocacy. The concept has existed as a framework for addressing harmful behaviour where you “call in” colleagues as an invitation to discuss their actions, versus “calling out” where you bring public attention to actions with a primary goal of stopping them immediately.
The concept of Call In vs. Call Out can be translated to advocacy work especially when there is a significantly small amount of people doing the groundwork. Calling people into the conversations around accessibility and finding solutions is like catching bees with honey. It fosters an environment where those with good intentions can develop those intentions into effective ideas. This can look like:
- Suggesting a brainstorm sessions
- Asking for help with a specific issue
- Offering your time to discuss an issue
Calling in takes more time and effort, but in advocacy it can help build a team of people who are informed and confident to act. Building that team is essential when discussing disability advocacy because of how small the awareness truly is. In every situation where I know I’m going to need to advocate for myself and my education, I take a step back and evaluate if calling in is possible here.
Times when calling in will not work:
- There is too large of a power dynamic without a trusting relationship
- There is no interest in making change
- The other person has bad intentions
When calling in is not an option or has not worked, calling out may be the best next step. Unfortunately, when calling out and bringing public attention to negative actions there can be unfair backlash. Which is why I call this grabbing the vinegar. Within advocacy, calling out in the public sense (outside the medical school) is not an effective option as a 1st year medical student. There would be too large of a possibility for backlash and risking professional relationships, not to add the effects would be minimal. Calling out for me means 1st establishing that this is an issue that needs addressing NOW. If the answer is “yes” then I know this is a big enough issue to use a call out strategy. The 2nd step is determining what call out strategy is needed – here are a few examples:
- Directly referencing harmful actions, words, or behaviours of the person
- Speaking with a person in a larger position of power
When grabbing vinegar for advocacy work it can create immediate change but often not lasting. I like to compare it to a “social media trend”: for a couple weeks it is popular but then after a while no one even remembers it happened. This is why, I choose to save Call Out moments for when I absolutely need to. Figuring out when that “absolute need” occurs takes practice and getting it wrong a couple times. But as you become more experienced in advocacy work, you will know the difference, determine the right approach, and act accordingly.
My biggest struggle with advocacy work is deciding when to put down the honey and the vinegar. Sometimes, there are needed changes that can be triaged to the bottom of the list. For example, the “accessible pathway” to class taking 10 times longer because accessibility was an afterthought. This situation while being annoying is personally triaged low because I can still access the space it just takes longer. For those bottom of the list items, it is OK to put them down for another time or another person.
Some days I will have all the energy and passion needed to do advocacy work, while other days I will be too exhausted, too frustrated, or too annoyed. On those days that I can’t be a good advocate, I often fall into the trap of feeling guilty for stepping back or taking a break. I can go into self-care routine in another post to explain how I handle this guilt mentally. This guilt comes from seeing the inequities that my community is facing and not seeing enough people care to change it. In these times I remind myself that building a team with honey is causing these low energy days, but those who I have “called in” are on their way to making impactful change in the right direction.