one morning 35 years ago while I was
wheeling passed my high school's office
and past the wall of starry-eyed grad
photos of those who'd left the school
before me the guidance counselor mr.
Kirkpatrick happened to be in the
hallway
glenda he asked would you rather be able
to walk or to talk the question I
accepted as genuine interest and benign
until I was preparing for this talk then
it hit me his question pitted the two
main disabilities of my diagnosis
cerebral palsy against one another
which did I want least which is more
tolerable which is more acceptable I
have been struggling with this internal
battle my entire life my inability to
walk and my inability to talk are not
created equal they are not equally
understood acknowledged or accommodated
I am puzzled by society's obsession with
the ability to walk not being able to
move about on my own two feet makes me
less of a person less valuable and worse
it needs fixing or curing lack of
physical access is frustrating and
inconvenient and in 2019 there is no
excuse for it other than antiquated
attitudes however I find the inability
to clearly communicate verbally far more
disabling for some baffling reason the
majority of our society links the
ability to speak with the ability to
hear and to understand
when many people encounter me or anyone
who has troubles speaking they assume I
do not understand or cannot hear and
begin talking slower and louder as if
speaking loudly increases comprehension
what's up with that or worse they
totally ignore and dismiss me I take
lack of communication access more
personally than lack of physical access
it's more of a personal offense because
it cuts deep to the core of Who I am 37
years ago to mr. Kirkpatrick's question
I immediately responded talk in my
wobbly Glen dish and scooted off to
class unfazed today 37 years later my
response would still be talk however
this time I am far from and faced today
I am no longer that somewhat naive
teenager today I am extremely concerned
and frustrated
I now know how crucial verbal
communication is in daily life and how
much of life is missed when one is
unable to speak clearly I now know how
systemically ignored dismissed and
overlooked people with speech and
language disabilities are in our society
I now know how political disability
really is and how the loudest ones get
the attention the funding the seat at
the table a nonprofit organization
communication disabilities access Canada
extract lots from international research
that nearly half a million Canadians are
living with significant communication
disabilities this statistic is only an
estimate because data collection tools
such as statistics candidates Canadian
survey on disability as recently as 2017
does not include speech and language
disabilities
these steps are used to plan and
evaluate services programs and policies
for Canadians living with disabilities
to help enable their full participation
and society it is easy to see how
Canadians living with speech and
language disabilities are not included
in federal funding announcements after
all you can't include what you don't
measure now is the time for people with
speech and language disabilities to be
acknowledged and included to be among
the loudest ones to be at the table
why is speech important with my
bachelor's degree from Simon Fraser
University in hand I was unsure how to
navigate a job search with my
disabilities do you know how many entry
level positions required telephone
skills and a typing speed of 60 words
per minute neither of which were within
my realm if possible
reluctantly I took a pre-employment
program for people with disabilities
once I completed the program I
volunteered as the teaching assistant
with the next group on the first day in
wheeled Darryl
he knew with him days he would marry me
I took much longer to come to the same
realization however I made the first
move when I invited him to go to the the
new Vancouver Public Library to do job
research after working on our land for a
couple of hours we connected for lunch
we ate on the cafe patio in the
beautiful late spring afternoon a simple
meal of ham bun witches and coke back
when our bodies allowed us to eat
whatever we wanted we talked for hours
which was easy to do with Daryl because
he is extremely patient conversing
unhindered was such a welcomed
experience something I had missed since
moving away from the familiarity and
safety of home to attend university even
though Daryl also has cerebral palsy and
uses a power wheelchair his speech is
fine through the years I have found it
amazing at how people interact
differently with him only because he
speaks clearly
Darrell doesn't mind translating for me
when needed but too often people turn to
him and expect him to speak for me
he is not my spokesperson he is my
husband he deserves to be respected we
celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary
in August one of our strengths is we
still sit and talk a lot back to the
topic of employment after one part-time
job I was left without another option I
hesitantly opted for the only route left
self-employment meanwhile I watched
while classmates and friends with
somewhat comparable physical
disabilities built successful careers
the main difference between our
disabilities is my inability to speak
clearly
thankfully online tools have enabled me
to meet communicate and work with people
from around the world
while learning how to run a business
I accepted whatever contracts came my
way
most of these contracts I undertook for
the sole reason of putting food on the
table and helping pay the mortgage which
by the way will be fully paid off in
less than two years eventually I built a
solid reputation in the field of web
accessibility I worked my way up until I
was charging a respectable fee
and then after 14 years of explaining
repeatedly why accessible websites are
necessary I burned out right before web
accessibility became a thing of course
since then and with the recent advances
in technology I have finally created my
own dream career that of being a keynote
speaker those friends I mentioned
earlier are now asking me how to land
speaking gigs and TEDx talks
I love the delicious irony in the career
choice
how can we make society more inclusive
regardless of communication methods
here's one encounter I faced during a
man expected hospital stay last November
I was sitting in my manual wheelchair
watching a video in my room on election
reform on my iPad trying to be
productive with my time while waiting
for the next appointment
a social worker unexpectedly rushed into
my room quickly introduced herself and
loudly asked if my husband would be
coming in today then she was gone gone
before I could pause the video and I
opened my communication app which I am
currently using to give this frickin
amazing talk go on to call Darryl to ask
him a series of questions about me
questions from capable of answering
myself had she actually been social
while performing her social work in mere
seconds she had made countless
assumptions about me hard-of-hearing
cognitively impaired unable to speak for
myself assumptions exclude me making my
world even less inclusive less
accessible and in this instance excluded
me from participating in my own
healthcare this encounter was in sharp
contrast with the noisy busy emergency
room the previous night or dr. tobert
listened patiently an attempt to
understand what I was saying given he
was new to my unique dialect he
understandably did not understand every
word I said because the emergency room
is too fast-paced and because I was in
too much pain to tie up on my iPad
darrel translated what I had said
rather than turning to speak with Daryl
as often happens doctor Tobruk continued
talking directly to me
his sincere attempt to understand me
made such an important difference he
truly cared and valued me as a person in
my 53 years of experience he was a rare
find
unlike the social worker
dr. Torah used three simple strategies
while communicating with me strategies
you can also use to confidently talk
with others who might communicate
differently first be patient
second speak directly with the person
and finally verify you have heard the
message correctly you carry these
strategies within yourself at all times
you can be capable and confident while
communicating with others regardless of
how they might communicate one person
can truly make a difference you can make
a difference take for example my friend
and colleague from my web accessibility
days Ted Drake Ted is now the
accessibility leader I think tool which
develops TurboTax among other software
last year they launched their
accessibility champion program to
recognize people passionate about
accessibility this year to mark the
program's success
they held a t-shirt design contest
the winning design an array of nine
Corgi dogs each representing a different
disability to be honest I teared up when
seeing the t-shirt because this was the
first time in my 53 years both my
communication disability and my mobility
disability had been recognized and
acknowledged together
regardless of whether you are working on
inclusive hiring practices planning
public forums and events developing
accessibility legislation and much more
ask the question how would people with
communication disabilities be included
you don't need to know the how you will
make a difference by asking this one
question circling back to mr.
Kirkpatrick's question would I rather be
able to walk or to talk I would still
respond resoundingly talk not having
clear speech
I still miss out on daily interactions
which most of you might take for granted
in other more critical situations such
as with the social worker it can impact
my health care however I am feeling
slightly hopeful about the future thanks
to the concerted efforts of many the
recently enacted accessible Canada Act
is the first accessibility legislation
to explicitly include communication
disabilities
now is the time for people with speech
and language disabilities to be equally
acknowledged and accommodated to be
among the loudest ones to have a seat at
the table and it starts with asking one
question how would people with
communication disabilities be included
thank you