Why does inclusion provoke fear and hatred?
🔶 Why does inclusion frighten people? Why is it hated? Why does it provoke aggression and resistance? And should it be feared?
🔷 Why does inclusion provoke hatred, irritation, and blindness?
Inclusion is a word that is supposed to mean acceptance. But in reality, it increasingly provokes irritation, contempt, and aggression. People react to it as if it were a threat, as something imposed, foreign, and dangerous. Why?
Because inclusion is not just a beautiful word. It is a challenge. It demands a revision of the familiar order in which some people are considered “normal” and others “deviant.” Inclusion says, “There is no longer a norm. There is diversity.” And that is frightening.
Many perceive inclusion as an attempt to “rewrite the rules.” In schools, it means children with differences who can no longer be ignored. In the workplace, it means colleagues who require accommodations. In society, it means voices that were previously silenced. And all of this is perceived as an intrusion into the familiar comfort zone.
Inclusion requires effort. It is not simply about “being kind.” It means restructuring processes, changing ways of thinking, learning to listen to those who were previously unheard. And that is difficult. It requires time, resources, and patience. And not everyone is ready.
But there is another layer — the feeling of imposition. People are not always opposed to the idea of inclusion itself, but they are opposed to the way it is presented. When inclusion sounds like a command, like an obligation, like a “new norm that you must accept,” internal resistance arises. Examples of this include companies introducing inclusive practices formally, without explanation and without dialogue. When the media presents template slogans without real meaning. When schools demand “inclusivity” but do not provide teachers with support or tools.
And then inclusion is perceived not as care, but as pressure. People feel accused, feel forced to change without being told why. This provokes rejection — even among those who are not truly opposed deep down.
And also — inclusion is often simply not seen. Not because it is invisible, but because people do not want to notice those who require more attention. People with disabilities, neurodivergent individuals, migrants, LGBTQ+ representatives — all those who do not fit into the familiar picture of “normal.” Their problems seem “foreign,” “not ours,” “not that important.” And when it comes to considering their interests, irritation arises: “Why should we have to adjust?”
🔶 Views That Prevent the Acceptance of Inclusion
Inclusion is not merely a policy, not a set of rules, not a trendy term. It is a way of seeing a person.
But in order to begin seeing, one must first abandon the familiar views that prevent this acceptance.
They do not always sound like aggression — more often they sound like “common sense,” like “realism,” like “well, that is obvious.”
But it is precisely these views that make inclusion impossible.
- “If a person is different — then something is wrong with them”
This is one of the most persistent and harmful myths. It turns any difference — physical, mental, social — into something “wrong” that needs to be corrected.
If a person has a disability — they are seen as “unsuccessful.”
If they are neurodivergent — they are considered “unadapted.”
If they are LGBTQ+ — they are told they “chose a strange path.”
If they are poor — they are told they “did not try hard enough.”
Behind this view lies the idea that there is a certain “norm,” and everything that goes beyond it is a deviation, a mistake, a personal fault.
But many people are born with differences. They did not choose to be different. They simply are different.
And demanding that they “become like everyone else” means denying their right to be themselves.
This view is convenient: it frees one from empathy, from responsibility, from the desire to understand.
It says: “You do not fit in — therefore, you are a problem.”
But inclusion begins with the recognition that difference is not a problem. It is reality. And it deserves respect.
- “You demand too much attention”
This view is more often directed at people with disabilities, neurodivergent individuals, and those with chronic conditions.
They are not always told to “change themselves,” because that is impossible. Instead, they are told:
“Why can you not just cope?”
“Why must everything be adjusted for you?”
“Why do you disrupt the general process?”
This is not aggression, but irritation at the need for care. People do not want to spend extra time, energy, or resources — especially if they do not understand why.
But attention is not a privilege. It is a necessity.
If someone requires more — it is not a whim, but a way to survive in an environment that does not initially account for their differences.
- “We are not obligated to adjust” / “That is your problem”
This view sounds like a defense of personal boundaries, but in reality — it is a refusal to include.
When someone asks to adapt the environment — the response is: “That is your difficulty. You solve it.”
When someone says they struggle in the usual system — “Let them deal with it themselves.”
Sometimes this is due to misunderstanding. People who have never faced limitations simply do not see why anything should change.
For example, if someone asks for important instructions to be provided in writing — because they struggle to process spoken information, especially in fast or noisy settings — they may be told:
“We say everything out loud, why complicate things?”
But for them, it is not a “complication,” but the only way to stay included.
Or if someone for whom the language is not native asks for slower speech or simpler phrasing, they may be told:
“You live here — learn the language properly. And without an accent.”
This is no longer just misunderstanding — it is a demand for conformity.
As if participation is only possible through complete rejection of one’s difference.
Such views make inclusion impossible. Because inclusion is not about “becoming like everyone else.”
It is about being oneself — and still being included.
- “Inclusion is a threat to traditions”
This view is especially strong in conservative societies. It says:
“If we begin to include everyone — we will lose ourselves.”
LGBTQ+ — a threat to the family.
Migrants — a threat to culture.
Neurodivergent individuals — a threat to order.
Inclusion is perceived as destruction, not expansion.
As if accepting new people and new forms of life means abandoning old values.
But true tradition is not a frozen form. It is a living current that can include the new without losing itself.
Inclusion does not destroy — it teaches us to see more broadly.
- “If I do not see the problem — it does not exist”
This is a privileged view. People who have never faced barriers believe they do not exist.
If you can enter any building — you do not think about accessibility.
If you have not been discriminated against — you believe discrimination does not exist.
If you have never felt anxiety about your identity — you think it is made up.
This way of thinking makes the problem invisible. And if it does not exist — why solve it? Why include? Why change?
But inclusion begins with the recognition: “I do not see it, but it exists. And I want to understand.”
These views are not always the result of malice. More often — they reflect a familiar worldview in which a person simply has not encountered other realities.
But it is precisely these attitudes — even if they seem logical, familiar, “natural” — that can create barriers, making society closed, rigid, and indifferent.
Inclusion begins not with accusations, but with the desire to understand.
Not with demands to “think correctly,” but with the willingness to look more broadly.
To learn to see. To learn to listen. To learn to include — even those who were previously unnoticed.
This irritation is not always conscious hatred. Sometimes it is fatigue, sometimes it is fear, sometimes it is simple ignorance. But the result is the same: refusal to see. And if you do not see — why include?
🔷 Why Inclusion Should Not Be Feared, and What It Truly Is
Inclusion often provokes anxiety.
People fear that it will disrupt the familiar order, complicate processes, and demand too much.
It seems like something foreign, imposed, and unnatural.
But if one looks deeper — inclusion does not destroy, it expands.
It does not erase boundaries, it makes them more flexible.
It does not require one to abandon oneself — it invites one to see others.
- It Is Not About Pity — It Is About Participation
Inclusion is not about pitying someone or merely tolerating them.
It is about ensuring that every person can be themselves — and still be part of the whole.
Not changing oneself to fit in, but being accepted as one truly is.
It is not about convenience. It is about justice.
So that everyone has access to life — not only those for whom it is already convenient.
- It Is Not a Threat to Traditions — It Is a Chance to Rethink Them
Many fear that inclusion will destroy culture, family, and familiar values.
But true traditions are alive.
They are capable of evolving, of embracing the new, without losing themselves.
Inclusion does not erase what is important. It makes it accessible to all.
- It Is Not an Artificial Idea — It Is a Reflection of Reality
Inclusion is not an invention, not a theory, not a trend.
It is simply the recognition that people are different.
That not everyone lives the same way, perceives the same way, speaks the same way.
And that is not a mistake — it is a fact.
When we include those who were previously “on the margins,” we do not lose — we become real.
A society that has room for difference is not a weak society.
It is a society where one can breathe.
Inclusion begins not with rules, but with the desire to understand.
With the willingness to see those who were previously unnoticed.
With the recognition that each person has their own path, their own barriers, their own needs.
And that we are stronger when we know how to include, not exclude.