Since I wrote my last post on who gets heard in co-production?, I’ve found myself continuing to reflect on what I wrote. The act of writing stirred something, it got the creative juices flowing and helped me realise what I had missed. 

One quiet Sunday morning, I was walking my assistance dog through the Garrison, and we passed a group of elderly Nepalese people out on their early stroll. I pointed them out to my partner, but inwardly, I made a mental note: Here’s another part of the community we might be overlooking. 

It’s something I had previously discussed informally with some independent colleagues, we have a large contingent of Fijian and Gurkha (Nepalese) families living locally. They are visible, and yet, I started to ask myself: Are we really seeing them in our community engagement work? Are they part of the conversations we are having around services, support, or co-produced initiatives? My PhD was limited in it's scope, but it is not to say a public service project could not consider this.

This matters. In my earlier reflections, I had focused on those who may be injured or disabled (even in the social model of the word), those who already face clear barriers. But intersectionality is more complex. Culture, language, employment patterns, social norms, and immigration status (including the politics in our Armed Forces) all affect whether someone feels welcome, understood, and able to take part. It is not enough to assume people choose not to engage. If the spaces and processes are not designed with them in mind, then their exclusion is concluded, even if it’s unintentional. 

I recalled seeing posters about diabetes written in what I assume was Nepalese. It made me wonder if there are specific health concerns, perhaps genetic predispositions or dietary habits, that required tailored information and support. But how would we know these things, unless we purposely reach out to the all the pockets of our community? 

That’s the key insight for me: We don’t discover these gaps by accident. We only find them if we’re looking for them. 

So here is my call to action: talk about your work. Write about your research. Reflect publicly, even if it means admitting what you missed. Not to highlight failure, but to model openness and growth. This process helps us embrace community diversity not as a checklist, but as something organic, like a wildflower garden. Beautiful, messy, diverse, and stronger for it. 

If we only hear from those who are white, retired, or available during working hours, those who can physically and sensory attend and access meetings, then services will naturally become tailored to that group. And that leaves others behind. 

Let’s not be content with who shows up easily. Let’s actively seek out the voices that haven’t yet had space. That’s where the real richness, and responsibility, lies in co-production. 

#coproduction #engagement #military