Interview with Léonie Watson

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’ve worked in the tech industry for more than 25 years and have been blind for a bit less time than that. Conferences and meetups have been an important part of my career, both as an attendee and as a speaker.

As an attendee, the biggest challenge is not being able to understand what people are showing on their slides. Depending on the nature of the talk and the style of the speaker, this matters less in some cases, but it is still a regular inconvenience.

A particular challenge of in-person events is networking, and a related problem is the difficulty of navigating around the event space. Conferences are often held in places that are difficult to navigate without first gaining some familiarity, something you rarely have time to do. This, coupled with the challenges of being able to mingle freely with other attendees or speakers, is something I miss being able to do independently.

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?

As a speaker, the worst experiences I’ve had have been those where the conference organizers simply didn’t bother to consider that a person with a disability might need some assistance or the ability to do things in different ways. Not considering that help doing a tech check and/or tech setup on the day, help to negotiate the speakers’ dinner, or find the conference venue if it’s separate from the hotel, are all things that greatly increase the stress of giving a talk.

As an attendee, the most common thing I find irritating is when people say something like “as you can see on my slide”. I recognize this is not an easy habit to break, I think I’ve probably done it myself from time to time without meaning to, but it’s also not an easy problem to solve. I give a lot of talks that include code examples on the slides, and although I try to mention that there is a code example on the screen, it’s rarely possible to recite it verbatim, so there is still an element of content that is not conveyed to anyone else who cannot see it.

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’ve been a speaker at conferences where the organizers have done wonderful things to make me feel included. For example, at one conference in Germany, all the speakers received a welcome pack with a personalized letter, and I received my “letter” as one of those greetings cards that let someone record a message that plays automatically when you open the card.

Another conference in Hungary gave all the speakers photos of themselves taken by the conference photographer as they gave their talks, and they somehow found the time to convert my photo into an embossed format, so I could feel what it was like. The conferences where they’ve been happy to cover the travel and accommodation for someone to come with me, so I have someone who I know and trust to help with all the social activities, tech checks, and such, are also notable examples of positive practice.

I always appreciate speakers who use their slides as “eye-candy”. This might sound counter-intuitive, but when someone’s slides are only there to give the audience something to look at, it usually means the speaker is not relying on them to help convey their topic. Again, this is not always possible, but it’s a good direction to aim in if/when it is.

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?

Do not assume everyone is like you. It is hard to think of all the ways people attending a conference, meetup, or training, might prefer or need to do things, but do your best to think about the fact that not everyone can see your slides, hear your video, process everything you say all at once, and so on. You won’t get it right all of the time, so be prepared to be responsive to people’s requests as/when they arise.

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.?

There are also problems, particularly with in-person events, that cannot be solved easily (at least, have not yet been solved that I’m aware of); for example things like making name badges and preference stickers (like preferred pronouns) accessible to people who cannot see or cannot see well enough to make them out. I’ve tried with others to find solutions for this but so far to no avail.