Diversity Is Everywhere: Do You Know Who You Are Excluding?

Diversity is not just about ticking boxes for race or nationality. It is a multifaceted reality that touches every aspect of user identity and context. The trap is that most product teams assume they are inclusive by default — but they are excluding people without realizing it.

Your actual job as a product leader in this era is to expand your thinking beyond visible categories and ask: Who are we leaving out without knowing?

That begins with understanding that diversity is not just about people. It is about situations — the varied contexts in which people live, work, and use your product.

The everyday exclusions you don’t notice

Think about the last time you felt frustrated with someone struggling with technology or a process:

• When was the last time you got annoyed helping your mom with a digital task because she couldn’t understand it?
• When was the last time you were impatient with an older colleague struggling to use new software?
• When was the last time you judged someone’s opinion because they lacked formal education, though they had relevant experience?

These are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of unconscious exclusion baked into the design of products, processes, and teams.

You might assume you are building for everyone — but the reality is you are building for someone like you, in situations like yours.

That is the entire problem.

Diversity is multi-dimensional — it is more than race or nationality

When people think of diversity, they often picture a mosaic of nationalities or skin colors — Indian, European, African. That is just the surface.

Talvinder explains in the session:

“Diversity is just not race. Diversity exists in a variety of ways. And as a product manager in this new age — not just the AI era, but the inclusive era — it’s important to understand the different dimensions in which inclusivity exists.”

These dimensions include:

• Age and tech savviness: Older users may struggle with interfaces designed for digital natives.
• Language fluency: Users may speak multiple languages or code-switch; some may not be fluent in your product’s default language.
• Physical ability: Disabilities can affect how users interact with technology.
• Cognitive differences: Users have varying attention spans, memory, and learning styles.
• Cultural practices: Religious fasting, dietary restrictions, or social norms that affect usage patterns.
• Socioeconomic background: Access to devices, connectivity, and digital literacy vary widely.
• Gender and sexuality: Assumptions about roles or abilities based on gender can exclude.
• Education and experience: Formal education is not a proxy for intelligence or insight.

The list is long and overlapping.

The trap: excluding situations, not just people

Talvinder makes a critical distinction:

“I will not use the word people anymore. I will say situations. You are excluding situations in which people like you might be operating.”

This means your design process must consider the full range of contexts where your product will be used — not just the ideal or average one.

For example:

• A delivery app that assumes users have GPS-enabled smartphones excludes those using feature phones or shared devices.
• An enterprise tool that assumes English fluency excludes large swaths of Indian users comfortable only in Hindi or regional languages.
• A food delivery app that ignores dietary restrictions or religious fasting excludes users who practice these regularly.

If you do not consciously ask these questions, you will continue to exclude silently.

Accessible vs inclusive: the difference matters

Accessibility is often framed narrowly as “disability compliance.” It focuses on making products usable for people with specific disabilities.

But inclusivity is broader. It encompasses a wide range of diversity dimensions and situations.

Talvinder points to the Cambridge University research:

“Accessibility is specific to disability. Inclusivity is broader, and considers a variety of situations across the persona spectrum.”

For example, subtitles on videos were originally designed for the hearing impaired, but now millions use them in noisy environments or when they can’t use headphones.

Similarly, voice interfaces help people with motor impairments but also benefit users who want hands-free interaction.

Inclusive design means solving for the edges so the center benefits too.

Learn from diversity to solve for one, extend to many

Inclusive design is not about building separate products for every group. It is about designing for the most constrained or marginalized user and letting that solution benefit everyone.

Talvinder gives the example:

“Many experiences we enjoy today happened because they were solved for severely disabled users. Closed captions on Reels let you watch videos silently in meetings or at night without disturbing others.”

This principle — solve for one, extend to many — leads to innovations that improve the experience universally.

How to shift your mindset: see the exclusions you miss

The first step is a mindset shift. Talvinder says:

“You need to change your mindset that you are, without realizing, unconsciously excluding people or excluding situations. If you do mindset, method, and tools, you will be more inclusive.”

This means:

• Stop assuming your users are like you or your immediate circle.
• Challenge your default assumptions about language, ability, culture, and context.
• Ask “Who might be excluded by this design?” at every stage.
• Recognize that diversity is complex and multi-layered.

Methods and tools to embed inclusion in your process

Changing mindset is necessary but not sufficient. You must adopt methods and tools designed for inclusive design.

Talvinder shares resources used in industry:

• Microsoft Inclusive Design Toolkit and Activity Cards
• Inclusive design worksheets for cognitive inclusion
• Case studies such as Google’s Monk Skin Tone Scale
• Accessibility testing tools like WAVE and axe

These help you:

• Identify exclusion points in your product
• Generate inclusive solutions that cover many situations
• Test with diverse user groups, including those with disabilities or different languages
• Build feedback loops for continuous improvement

Inclusive design in action: examples from India

Indian products have unique inclusion challenges and opportunities:

• Meesho built a vernacular content platform reaching millions by treating Hindi, Tamil, Telugu as distinct content cultures — not just translations.
• Food delivery apps can tailor recommendations to dietary habits using data analytics — keto, vegan, allergen-free options.
• Simplifying UI for users with low tech literacy, including voice commands and high contrast modes, increases accessibility.

In each case, the product team had to ask: “Who are we missing? What situations are we not solving for?”

The ethical imperative: inclusivity is not a luxury

Talvinder references the Google SEA report 2023 which highlights:

“Digital inclusion is a necessity, not a luxury.”

Excluding users means excluding potential customers, but more importantly, it means perpetuating inequalities.

As a product leader, you have the power and responsibility to create products that serve diverse communities fairly and respectfully.

Test yourself: Recognize the exclusions

Imagine you are the PM for a popular Indian food delivery app used across metros and tier-2 cities. Your data shows lower engagement from certain regions and demographics.

• What hidden exclusion factors might be causing this gap beyond language?
• How would you change your user research to uncover these?
• What product changes could you propose to include more diverse dietary habits, device types, and cultural practices?

Where to go next

• Learn user research methods that uncover hidden needs: User Research Methods
• Explore practical inclusive design tools and activities: Inclusive Design Toolkit
• Understand cognitive diversity and how to design for it: Designing for Cognition
• Build empathy through personas and scenarios: Persona Development
• Measure inclusivity impact with analytics: Metrics and KPIs for Inclusion

PL alumni now work at Flipkart, Google, Razorpay, PhonePe, Swiggy, Amazon, Microsoft, and 30+ other companies.