As the daughter of a single mother who had her at 17, Diana has always had to fight for the things that have mattered to her. A student of Massachusetts public schools, she went to Middlesex Community College. She later earned a financial scholarship to Wellesley College.After serving in the legislature as an aide, as Chief of Staff for the 12,000 member Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, and years of work for local nonprofits and community organizations, she won her first race for public office in 2012. Diana served three terms as State Representative for the 14th Essex District. In 2018 was elected to the State Senate.
While state agencies are increasing access to multilingual options, the government must creatively strive to go beyond mere translation services to culturally adapted websites and forms for a wide range of users where possible. Translation substitutes one word for another. Culturally adapted websites, however, offer different dialects and visuals that reflect cultural competence to help create more inclusivity for marginalized populations.
In the business world, culturally adapted websites are implemented to help attract new clients and increase diversity among clients. Eindhoven University of Technology published a study suggesting that cultural adaptation has a “clear and positive effect on the level of trust and the attitude of users.”[1] Government information, online and on forms, should be culturally adaptive wherever possible to increase ease of access and opportunity for every Massachusetts resident.
Furthermore, The Commonwealth’s websites must also be fully accessible to residents with different abilities, including via closed captioning of all online public meetings to: increase participation in government; improve confidence in its work; and improve trust in public services.