Interview with Myriam Jessier

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?

Hi, I’m Myriam and I have ADHD. For someone like me, going to events is overwhelming. There are so many people, and voices and noise, and distracting things!

First, I need a quiet room. It’s a room where people can go to deal with the overstimulation. One of my pet peeves is when groups come in thinking this is a quiet room that’s just *perfect* for their loud meeting. NO, IT IS NOT. They quickly back off when we tell them what it is, though.

Another must for many folks like me is to invest in Loops. Loops are things you put in your ear to cut out the noises that grate our nerves. They are used by a lot of neurodivergent folks. We talk about them to each other because it’s great: you tune out a lot of the noise without missing conversations.

I have a problem with things that move too fast, or in an unexpected manner… please don’t use WordArt. Please don’t use too many fancy animations. They not only distract me, but they also make me feel ill.

And then something I don’t talk about often… One fourth of the month, I can’t count on my legs to carry me. I have a health issue that makes things worse and worse and worse as time goes on. It’s a thing. It’s fine. BUT I need the elevator on those days. I also need to waltz around alcohol offers because that’s not compatible with my pain levels (it makes it worse) and sometimes, it downright clashes with my meds.

And then, from an online standpoint, virtual events are sometimes even weirder, because there is a lot of dead time. The time spent figuring out microphones that everyone finds awkward… that’s a signal for my brain to wander off. This means that I will have missed most of the event actually. And if your audio is dismal, you have lost me. 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?

Not providing a quiet room in an in-person setting is a big one. So is using slides that are just full of text, or having bad audio (including bad glitches, random shouting in the background, or sounding like there’s a goat headbutting your microphone). These are all examples of things that can ruin the experience for me.

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?

On the other hand, really engaging slides, a great tone of voice that keeps me engaged, and folks who don’t try to cram ALL that they know about the topic down your throat in 30 minutes. Also, speakers who will give me one thing that I can implement or think about really fast to get that dopamine hit. And then, when it comes to online talks specifically, folks who find a way to not have their head hiding their content. That certainly makes me feel more engaged.

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?

It’s pretty simple. Be human. Emote, and use your slides as support to what you are saying.

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 know me…I already did that up above! But there is one other thing…

Accessibility doesn’t mean JUST your problem. It really, really irks me when I attend an accessibility talk at a conference and it’s CLEAR the speaker does not give a flying fuck about folks with ADHD. I had one recently that made my brain melt because of the slide format. Slides should not have too much information on them, or I will read them instead of listen to you. Do not use typography that is hard to figure out, or I will spend most of my time doing that. If you drone on without any animation, my brain will wander. I’m always looking for the next dopamine hit… so if you have specific “zingers” or great quotes, I will love those and they will get me back on track.