Committee
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
Ruchi Sharma MA., BCBA (LBA) has worked in the applied behavior analysis field for 20 years. Ruchi is a licensed and certified behavior analyst in the state of Illinois and her secondary role at her job is facilitating DEI initiatives across her current organization and its offices. Ruchi applies the DEI lens when working and serving vulnerable populations across the state of Illinois.
Dedicated to DEI based initiatives throughout her life. She began this journey growing up and living in Gaborone, Botswana next door to Apartheid South Africa. Her curiosity led to evaluating why some people are treated differently than others, this further grew into discovering systemic barriers for some groups vs others and is currently and consistently working on dismantling these barriers and supporting people and communities from the global majority and anyone who has been disenfranchised.
Ruchi believes in speaking up through actionable allyship, collaboration with people from various backgrounds and perspectives, direct communication, courageous conversations, development of educational and training materials that promote equity, inclusion, belonging, allyship and diversity.
Our Mission and Call to Action
The DEI Board member at large and the DEI Committee members at ILABA believe in fostering a culture of diversity, inclusion, access, equity and belonging across people and settings. We advocate for initiatives that protect and advance the science and practice of behavior analysis and commit to advocating for marginalized and vulnerable populations of intersectional identities. We educate and engage ILABA members, and stakeholders to promote culturally responsive, ethical, evidence-based practices across people. We believe in creating avenues of learning from different perspectives while upholding our BACB code of ethics and more specifically culturally responsive practices across all of our initiatives, events, with each other and when engaging with our broader community. The DEI Board member at large and the DEI Committee members are committed to the continuous efforts of dismantling systemic barriers to equity, inclusion and diversity and commit to continuous learning through cultural humility, self-awareness and ongoing education.
Upcoming Events & Meetings
ILABA DEI Monthly Committee Member Meetings
Meetings occur on the Third Wednesday of the month at 6:00 PM CST