ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with perceptions of rural diversity and inclusion among a number of Northern Ireland-wide service organisations. Conversation can be regarded as an essential requisite for the promotion of inclusion in rural society and yet there is the paradox that the more local these conversations become, the more difficult it is to confront exclusion and sectarianism. Interviewees reported a number of different ways by which social exclusion manifests itself. This was identified as having both a spatial dimension, being able to avail of public services in remote rural areas, and a prejudice dimension associated with a range of societal groups. Training in prejudice awareness and reduction was frequently interpreted as having relevance for the effectiveness of an organisation in dealing directly with its customers. Equity, Diversity and Interdependence thus contains the methods, training insights and basic vocabulary to sensitise policy makers to these issues and subtleties, particularly in those situations which have an underlying tension or prejudice.
