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Published: Are You Missing the D in DEI?

I had an article published in the recent Workplace in Action® People Excellence magazine. My newest piece, “Are You Missing the ‘D’ in DEI?,” explores how diversity & inclusion initiatives may be missing the mark if they aren’t including disability.

My full article is shared below (along with a page for the #A11yBook!), but I hope you’ll check out the full magazine here as well. I’m still reading some of the great articles contributed by my colleagues. It’s a robust issue with a variety of perspectives!

Read More »Published: Are You Missing the D in DEI?

In Summary

Many companies talk about being fair and including everyone. They can often forget about people with disabilities. When we leave out people with disabilities, it means those people feel unwelcome. Companies can miss out on great ideas and talented workers. To truly include everyone, businesses need to make sure events and online tools can be used by people with disabilities. Disabled voices should be heard in all discussions about fairness and inclusion.

cover of The Inclusive Speaker: How to Truly Connect With All of Your Audience Without Leaving Anyone Behind by Denis Boudreau

Review: The Inclusive Speaker

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.

Read More »Review: The Inclusive Speaker

In Summary

This review of "The Inclusive Speaker" points out some good parts and some problems. The reviewer really wanted to like the book, especially since they teach others about being inclusive speakers. The main issue is that the book often talks about "learning styles," which research has shown is a myth. However, the book does have helpful parts, especially the checklists in Part 3. These checklists give practical advice on how to make presentations more inclusive for people with different disabilities.

group of 3 logos - mentimeter, poll everywhere, and ahaslides

Accessible Presentation Software

I asked a question to the collective wisdom of my LinkedIn connections recently, and it sparked a great conversation and research into accessible presentation software. Here’s what I found comparing accessibility features of some of the major presentation software platforms: AhaSlides, Poll Everywhere, Mentimeter, and Slido.

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In Summary

We reviewed how easy presentation programs are for people with disabilities to use. We looked at AhaSlides, Poll Everywhere, Mentimeter, and Slido. Overall, Poll Everywhere impressed us. However, we're sticking with Mentimeter for now. It seems to be the best for making full presentations that everyone can use.

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Myths About Accessibility and Disabilities

In this post, I want to dispel some common myths about accessibility and disabilities. You may have heard some of these statements before!

Read More »Myths About Accessibility and Disabilities

In Summary

Some people think you can always tell if someone has a disability, but actually, many disabilities aren't obvious. Many think that making things easy for everyone to use is too much work. In fact, designing things to be accessible from the beginning helps everyone. It's also usually cheaper and easier to do it right from the start. This way, websites and online tools are usable for all.

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What’s the Difference between Accessibility, Usability, and Inclusion?

What’s the difference between accessibility, usability, and inclusion? I’m so glad you asked! This topic comes up a lot when discovering the world of accessibility, and these topics intersect and apply in different ways depending on your goals. I’d love to share a few definitions and sources I’ve found helpful.

Read More »What’s the Difference between Accessibility, Usability, and Inclusion?

In Summary

Accessibility means making sure websites and online tools work for people with disabilities. You either do it right, or you don't. Usability means making things easy for everyone to use. But sometimes, even if something is easy for most people, it's still hard for someone with a disability. Inclusion is about making sure everyone feels welcome and can be part of things, no matter what. So, accessibility is about following rules to make sure disabled people can use things. It's a "yes" or "no" answer. Usability and inclusion are more about making sure everyone feels good using something and like they belong.