Interview with Dustin Feldman

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?

Sure! I have worn hearing aids since the age of 5, so I have lots of tips and tricks to making sure I don’t miss out too much in live in-person and virtual events. At the last in-person DEI Conference I attended in February at the University of New Hampshire, I had each and every panelist speak into my personal Bluetooth microphone along with the microphone they spoke into for everyone else. It worked out great and it allowed me to introduce myself before and after each session. Furthermore, it gave me the opportunity to be even more engaged and participate in Q&A. By the end of the conference, just about every attendee was more accommodating and aware of (my) hearing loss.

For virtual events, I am able to connect my hearing aids’ Bluetooth to my MacBook and my iPhone. I am constantly going back and forth, disconnecting and connecting, throughout the day. I am always utilizing captions and live captions and I am up front with my audiences on video calls by making sure I can read their lips. During yesterday’s virtual trivia event sponsored by Walmart, the captions weren’t working perfectly so my team was even more accommodating. They minimized talking over one another and they helped spell out specific names of people I was unfamiliar with. Moral of the story is, when we communicate how we can be helped the best, it all works out in the end!

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 like to start some of my speaking engagements talking about my experience at Michael Jordan’s basketball camp when I was 11-years-old. This was a week-long camp with hundreds of basketball players from all over the world. Michael Jordan made an appearance one way or another everyday. One night, they held an auditorium speaking session where Jordan spoke for an hour about his experiences in an inspiring and motivating way. I remember being 50-60 feet away from the stage. I could see my idol right there. I looked around and saw all of the other campers smiling, excited to be in the same room as the greatest basketball player of all time. Then all of a sudden, I saw everyone laughing. I looked back at Jordan and realized.. I had no idea what he said. I couldn’t hear him from my seat.. and for a full hour.. I didn’t ask for help.

So now, I call it “Be on offense”. Accommodate for yourself before the event – or – if you’re in a situation where you need assistance, how do you handle it in that moment? Be on offense! With all of the progress we’ve made to give audiences the best experience possible, there are many solutions readily available that weren’t available in that moment:

• Live captions
• Seating arrangements
• Place my Bluetooth microphone on the table where Jordan was sitting (or have him clip it to his jacket)
• Record the session and project it on a larger screen making it easier to lip read

In-person and virtual events should offer live captioning. It’s becoming a necessary standard for all of us, not just folks with hearing loss.

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?

• Direct eye contact
• Asking me personally if I can hear them okay
• Not talking while their back is to me (or anyone else)
• Repeating without showing any frustration
• Showing empathy
• Taking breaks in between long speaking sessions (such as Town Hall meetings)

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?

Like I mentioned in my bio, “when we all focus on helping one another, we all win!” So how do we keep all disabilities in mind and accommodate for one another the best way possible? Hint: It’s not easy, and we don’t have all the answers, so we must be empathetic, patient and willing to learn.

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.?

As soon as I got this current pair of hearing aids in January 2020 (yes, luckily just before the pandemic!), I found myself getting into podcasts more and more. I could finally hear what was being said with the help of transcripts when available, too.

The Listening Brain is a recent podcast I got into that shares perspectives and insights from various well-known hearing professionals; whether they’re speech pathologists or audiologists. Those are the professionals that helped get me to where I am today, so I have a lot of appreciation for them. The host, Todd Houston, has a philosophy when he meets with the parents to diagnose and service their child(ren). Even if the meeting went extremely well, he asks the parents, “How could this have gone even better?”

This 7-word question creates an even stronger bond between the professional and the parent. The relationship becomes stronger and stronger every time they meet for years to come. So my final piece of advice is, ask yourself “How can we be better every day?” Don’t forget, you’re not competing against yourself, you’re competing WITH yourself!