Interview with Ali Ingersoll

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 was injured in a shallow water diving accident in 2010 in my home in the Bahamas, leaving me a C6 complete quadriplegic and lifetime wheelchair user. I spent the first 6 years after my injury in and out of hospitals with a tremendous number of secondary complications and multiple surgeries. I learned to advocate for myself by fighting health insurance companies for medically necessary equipment I needed to not only survive in my life, but to thrive.

I have worked full-time as a technical analysis day trader and transitioned careers to becoming a disability strategy consultant for corporations around the globe in addition to continuing my advocacy fight with health insurance companies by partnering with people and organizations nationwide. I also now focus on public speaking and topics on disability inclusion in the corporate workplace, health insurance advocacy, and normalizing many uncomfortable topics around disability with dark humor and determination.

I focus much of my time on disability employment these days, as there is still so much stigma and discrimination focused around people with disabilities. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) is a hot topic in employment at the moment, but disability is simply getting left behind. I offer people I work with perspective shifts in their thinking in addition to helping them create targeted disability DEI roadmap strategies for more inclusive work within different industries.

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?

Not doing their homework. If you’re going to chat on a topic, you need to know your material. Do your research.

Speaking in a very dry manner. Information is great, but you also need to learn to tell a story behind whatever material you are presenting on.

Lack of humor. Unfortunately, many people in the disability community are still very much misunderstood by the able-bodied population. While it is not our job, as the disabled community, to make other people feel comfortable with our disabilities, I do find that bringing the bit of humor into normalizing uncomfortable topics that people do not want to approach helps ease the audience to be more receptive to what you are chatting about.

Lack of interaction. I always find it incredibly engaging, and I find myself remembering in-person or virtual events when speakers are extremely interactive with the audience. This may involve asking questions, polling the audience, etc.

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?

When I am truly captivated by a great speaker, I find myself extremely motivated to continue my own personal work. I feel a sense of renewed passion and completely uplifted if the content is engaging. Great speakers also find amazing ways to build you up, even if a topic can be challenging. Taking a very serious topic and finding a strategy to leave your audience to take action after you speak is what I consider a successful presentation.

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?

Whenever I hear a speaker chatting on the topic of disability, on whatever the content may be, I find many speakers use the lens of relating to a specific disability while excluding other disabilities. Whether that be mobility impairments, blind, deaf/hard of hearing, neurodiversity, etc. — I think it’s pertinent to make sure to not only make a presentation inclusive to all people with disabilities, but to make sure the message is relatable to the broader disability community as well.

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.?

Perspective shift. As human beings we, all too often, find ourselves getting stuck within our own circle of people, interests, opinions, and perspectives. I enjoy offering new perspectives on a variety of topics, not just disability, to offer people the opportunity to critically think about their own lives as it relates to thinking outside of the box on a variety of issues. Especially in the United States, we are so comfortable with our lifestyle that we often neglect looking beyond our borders.

Human kindness and paying it forward. These are two things I live by each and every day that I try to help in part on others to broaden their horizons within their own lives.