Debra Lashua

(she/they)

Job/background

I am the SASS Manager for Computer Science (Faculty of Sciences). I joined the university about 11 years ago. I have worked in Computer Science for the entirety of my time at York, but my role has evolved as the department has grown. I have worked in HE for about 20 years and prior to York this has included: University of Bradford, LIPA and the University of Cardiff. Prior to HE I also worked in the charity sector including the Prince’s Trust and YMCA. I have a research MA from the University of Alberta, Canada (funded by a Commonwealth Scholarship). My dissertation explored ideas about race, representation, fan culture and sporting heroes.

What does EDI mean to you?

Why is it important to you? My background on my Dad’s side is Sri Lankan. My Dad was brought up as an unwanted mixed-race child raised by Barnardos. He learnt a trade (as a sheet metal worker) and ended up owning a medium-sized steel fabrication business. The first time I heard or thought of my Dad as a black man was when I had friends home from Junior School. My Mum broadly has white English/Irish heritages. Hearing about the struggles they faced marrying one another, shaped my interest broadly in thinking about our identities, equality, belonging and community.

How are you involved in EDI activity at York?

I sit on Computer Science’s EDI committee and I am part of the Staff Race Equality Forum and a member of the Staff Race Equality Forum Operations Group. Other university roles include being both a Dignity and Mental Health First Aid contact.

Name someone who inspires you in relation to equality? 

Too many to mention, but include: my parents, Rosa Parks, Tessa Sanderson, Denise Lewis, Kelly Holmes, Michelle Obama, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, James Baldwin, Stuart Hall, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr.

Do you have any advice on how to engage with EDI activity in York?

Get involved and informed! Be an ally for people that face discrimination. Listen carefully to people’s stories about who they are. Please be empowered within the university’s community of respect, to gently call out discrimination. 

You can talk to me about…

Anything! However, in relation to EDI I have particular experience with gender, race, youth and folks with disabilities.