Interview with Desiree White, CPACC
Every week, we meet with audience members with disabilities who are willing to come forward and share a little bit about their own personal journey and experiences, attending live, in-person, or virtual speaking or training events. Through their unique and generous perspectives, speakers, trainers, facilitators, and other communication professionals can hopefully learn about some of the things that they do well, but also (and maybe more importantly) about some of the things they could improve to provide an experience that is truly inclusive of everyone.
Meet Desiree, an audience member who has ADHD, depression, and anxiety
So without further ado, let’s dive right into this week’s interview with Desiree White, CPACC (she/her). Desiree has ADHD, depression, and anxiety and comes to us from New Jersey, USA.
Introductions
QUESTION 01 Can you tell us a bit about yourself, and how your disability might impact your experience, as someone who attends live in-person and virtual events?
I have dealt with depression and anxiety since childhood. I also had a late diagnosis for combination type ADHD at 33 years old. As part of my ADHD, I have some auditory processing issues. Live events can be tricky for me for a variety of reasons. Depression may limit my ability to put effort into staying present. Anxiety may mean I spend more time worrying about what I should be doing or if I’m catching all the information than actually taking in information. ADHD and auditory processing issues mean that paying attention is draining for me and I may miss information if it’s not present in multiple modalities.
Things that ruin the experience
QUESTION 02 Thinking back on some of your experiences attending in-person or virtual events, what are some of the worst things speakers, trainers, and other communication experts can do to ruin your experience as an attendee?
I do not handle being called on or asked to respond to something without time to prepare very well because of my anxiety. I need time to formulate an answer and feel confident I’m not going to make myself look dumb first. It doesn’t matter if you’re not judging me because I am absolutely judging myself. I also struggle when events are overly monotonous or when events are too stimulating (it shouldn’t feel like math class, but it also shouldn’t feel like a variety show). I will absolutely get distracted and lose track of what’s happening in your event. I also hate it when I’m required to have my camera on and reply on a mic in virtual events. I’m absolutely masking in those situations and it’s exhausting.
Things that make a positive impact
QUESTION 03 Can you share some of the great things speakers, trainers, and other communication experts sometimes do that make a positive impact on your ability to fully enjoy your in-person or virtual event experiences?
I love captions! Captions and transcripts give my brain something to circle back to if I get distracted and help me soak in information on low energy days when listening is hard. Having all crucial info on slides and not making me rely on listening to get information is so helpful too (I can promise you I will miss something on your fill in the blank worksheets…) Things like agendas and asking for volunteers instead of calling on someone help me figure out what’s expected of me and plan my responses accordingly. I also really appreciate it when participation is optional or I have multiple ways to engage (ie, can I keep my camera off and use chat instead of being forced to mask).
Sharing a piece of advice
QUESTION 04 If you had one piece of advice to give speakers, trainers, and other communication experts, so their content became more inclusive of people who have disabilities, what would it be?
Make accessibility and inclusion a practice. Sometimes things you do for one group benefit another (ie, captions are usually for folks who are deaf and hard of hearing, but they can also help people with auditory processing issues or speakers of other languages) and the more you practice, the easier it gets. Most of it is relatively easy to do with some planning and I promise you people will not request changes they don’t need (and working up the courage to ask for accommodation is really hard).
Wrapping up
QUESTION 05 Thank you for sharing some of your insights with us today. As we wrap up our conversation, is there anything that you’d like to add, such as another thought, another piece of advice, another perspective, etc.?
You can solve a lot of problems by ensuring there are open lines of communication and some rough plans for accommodations. Make sure the people who are interested in hearing you speak, teach, present, etc. have a way to make requests, ask questions, and otherwise get help. Make sure you or the person who is overseeing that knows how to handle some common requests. A few examples: Can you direct someone to a quiet area for managing panic or migraines? Can you give them accessibility information for a teleconferencing platform? Can you enable captions or provide an estimate on how soon a recording with them will be available? Do you have accessible digital versions of your handouts?
Connect with our guest on social
Interested in knowing more about our guest this week? You can follow Desiree on LinkedIn and Twitter.
Would you like to be featured as one of our next guests?
Are you a person with a disability who’d like to share their experience attending live, in-person or virtual events, in order to help speaking professionals learn from their mistakes, and become more inclusive in the delivery of their content? If so, fill out our interview questionnaire, and we’ll work together to feature your experience and perspective in the near future!
About Denis Boudreau
Denis Boudreau is a consultant, trainer, coach, and speaker specializing in inclusive leadership and inclusive communication. He works with leaders and executives who are no longer willing to overlook disability inclusion and want to transform their leadership approach from “inclusive-ish” to truly inclusive by championing accessibility. A Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA), Denis has trained thousands of professionals over the past two decades and has delivered hundreds of workshops worldwide in both English and French. He has helped leading brands like Netflix, Salesforce, Victoria’s Secret, and many more embed disability inclusion into their business strategies, empowering them to break down barriers and create deeper, more meaningful connections with their target audiences while also meeting legal obligations.