The Inclusive Speaker by Denis Boudreau has been on my radar for a bit, and I got to finally finish up reading on my flight back from New Orleans last weekend.
I have to start by saying, I really wanted to be able to recommend this book. I went in with the highest of hopes, imagining myself sharing this book with my speaker’s community and creating a wave of more disability-inclusive speakers. Since I speak on accessibility and disability inclusion, other speakers often ask me what they can do better to reach these audience members. This book has some good wisdom, but is in other places… problematic.
Learning Styles Myth
One of the main reasons I can’t in good conscience recommend this whole book is the emphasis on the “learning styles” pseudoscience. It’s not just mentioned once or twice, the concept is woven throughout the book. If you’re unfamiliar, “learning styles” are defined most often as Visual, Auditory, Read/Write, or Kinesthetic (VARK). The learning styles theory suggests that each person has their own unique “learning style” and will almost always better understand learning content delivered in that style.
The problem with this? It’s all false; not a bit of it is backed with research. Quite contrary, the research shows the opposite: learning styles are simply a myth.
Don’t believe me? I bring sources, of course! This article from the University of Michigan is a great roundup of research, and you can read more research from the American Psychological Association, Nature, Frontiers in Psychology, Computers & Education, and so many more sources with a quick search.
People may have different preferences about the modality or format they consume content in, but there is no research to suggest people actually learn more or better based on that preference. Those preferences may be fairly consistent across different topics, or they may shift based on the content being learned. Almost all learning material has some kind of audio/visual and read/write content, and good quality learning material will allow for hands-on (kinesthetic) content too. A well-designed learning course or program includes multiple modalities to reinforce learning across multiple senses.
And then of course, what if some of those senses are impaired? Multiple modalities allow your audience – whether you’re speaking or training – to consume your content in the way that is most accessible to them. But none of that means that people have “learning styles” you must accommodate for!
Being an Inclusive Speaker
The Checklists!
The book is not completely without redemption, however. You might have a better impression of The Inclusive Speaker if you start at Part 3, with the actual content you probably picked up the book in the first place for. Part 3 gives you the checklists you need to examine your presentations and make changes to be a truly more inclusive speaker. The content is organized well, progressively building on previous concepts about the kinds of disabilities and impairments your audience may experience. As you move from Instinctive Speaker through the stages that follow: Inspired, Involved, Invested, and Inclusive – you examine your presentation materials at a deeper level, understanding a bit more each chapter. I’ve had my own checklists for my presentations throughout the years, and I definitely picked up some new tips to add from this section of the book.
What Else?
Worried about missing anything in the first two parts of the book? I have you covered! Part 1 incredibly repetitive, telling you all the things you’re not doing, or doing wrong. There’s not much advice on fixing anything yet, just statistics, predictable stories, and awareness. If you’ve attended any of my presentations, or talked to me for more than 10 minutes, you already have a summary of Part 1 – disability inclusion is important! If you skip Part 1 you won’t miss much, because most of the content gets repeated later. And again later. Part 2 is an exploration of various personas – example people that could be in your audience, and the challenges they may face. Again, this content gets repeated and referenced in the checklist section, so unless you’re very new to working with a diverse group of humans, you may be able to skip this section too.
Overall
If you’re new to including people with disabilities, you may find this book useful. If you’re already an inclusive speaker looking for some additional wisdom, you may struggle with this book. If you have any background in education, you might cringe throughout at the myths. I plan to update and share some of my speaker checklists, along with my own resources for being an inclusive speaker, in the rest of this series of blog posts.
Are you on GoodReads? I shared a condensed version of my review there too:
The Inclusive Speaker: How to Truly Connect With All of Your Audience Without Leaving Anyone Behind by Denis Boudreau
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
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