Special Guest:
Website alyciaanderson.com
Pushing Forward with Alycia Podcast
Soundbites, Tachyons, and Pulses from the show conversations
Representation in Media and Paralympics
We're starting to see it more in commercials and the Paralympics 2024 Paris opening ceremonies is today and being launched. How much are we hearing about that? You know what I mean? Like the Olympics, it always follows the Olympics, the representation, the marketing, the media. It's just it's so far behind. And so I guess the question the answer is there's a ton. It's just whether we're showing interest in once general society like able bodied people are exposed to, let's say, a Paralympic Games or you see the immense amount of like talent that comes from and power and strength that comes from disabled people. And then you start going, oh, wow, that's really awesome.
Strategic Insights on Disability Inclusion
Where do you see the biggest opportunity in our, you know, country or globe to really create inclusion for companies to add value with this? I mean, there's a lot of areas. There isn't just one. Disability inclusion is so multifaceted because there's so many barriers. It isn't just one thing. From a value standpoint, if you're looking at accessibility, accessibility initiatives a lot of times in the workplace that's looked at as like under a compliance lens we have to do this because of ada if you're in the united states like this is a requirement and it's we make it a compliance issue not a human issue and when companies like like we were talking about before we started like the microsoft's or There's Apple and there's companies out there that embed accessibility into their philosophy and their company, not just we built this feature, now how do we make it accessible, but we build accessibility into infrastructure, product development.
Support for Disability Advocacy
Well, what can we do to help you? Not that I, I mean, I have a little, little, you know, dreaming one day to have a bigger platform, but trying to get connected with big people and good people like you and other influencers on this like moment we're together. What, what would be something you'd want to beacon out to the universe? Or if someone would hear it to pick up, you know, do a show for you on Showtime. I don't know. Or docuseries. I don't know. What would it be? I'll take all of the above. You know, if there's anybody that's out there that's listening to this that thinks that it would be great to have a conversation and if there's any way that I can support you, I would love to meet you. So please reach out to me at aliciaanderson.com. And, you know, beyond me, subscribe to my podcast. That'd be great. But beyond that, hire somebody with a disability.
Changing the Narrative on Disabilities
Another lesson, and I share it in my TED Talks, so your audience can go listen to it. But I talk about a little boy that called me monkey arms when I was in third grade. And his punishment at school for doing that was to ride around in a wheelchair for a whole day so he would feel what it would be like to be me. And this was the adults, the teachers, that's what they thought would be very effective for him. And I tell the whole story in my TEDx talk, but it was such an embarrassing moment for me to have to be on a playground with a kid that doesn't know how to use a wheelchair and for that to be a punishment and what it taught everybody, like all the other kids on the playground, all the adults, this little boy and me that living with a disability is a punishment. And we need to shift that narrative because it is just another way to live.
Alicia Anderson Introduces Herself
It was a long trip from Mars to get here. Thank you so much for the invitation. I appreciate that. I'm Alicia Anderson, who I am. I'm a motivational speaker. I am a disability inclusion advocate, specifically in the workplace. I advocate for the inclusion and advocacy of people with disabilities in the workplace to have space to be represented and to be valued, to be hired. I advocate for accessibility and the value of that and what it drives in the workplace specifically. My TEDx speaker, I'm a podcaster too, pushing forward with Alicia, small plug. Yeah, and I've been doing this work for quite some time. I am a lifelong wheelchair user.
Understanding and Addressing Ableism
And ableism is a word that I didn't want to be involved with at all in most of my life too, but it's very active. It's the judgment that is put on me constantly. It's the no ways, don't hire, don't love, don't invite, don't adapt. Don't include, don't befriend. It's that fear and the pity lens in which we see disability through. And it's crippling. Our bias towards disability is so crippling, is way more crippling than disability could be. And we do internalize that as people, as humans, as disabled people. And then we go, oh, I can't do that. Society is telling me I can't do that. And so for me... know i when i was born my parents did not know they were having a kid with a disability and all they knew to do was to just have me be integrated advocate board as much as my sister would was my able-bodied sister and in that you know i had to learn to like adapt to environments that weren't ready for me and be pretty nimble and And they really advocated for me to have my space in this world. And that advocacy and discussing disability and finding a place for it is how we do better. And so we have to allow children to explore conversations, I think. We have to allow adult like as adults, if if if innocent children can say, I want that for Christmas, then an adult should be brave enough to say, can I say the word disability? And if it's not OK with you, how do you prefer to be identified?
Personal Story: Changing the Disability Narrative
Another lesson, and I share it in my TED Talks, so your audience can go listen to it. But I talk about a little boy that called me monkey arms when I was in third grade. And his punishment at school for doing that was to ride around in a wheelchair for a whole day so he would feel what it would be like to be me. And this was the adults, the teachers, that's what they thought would be very effective for him. And I tell the whole story in my TEDx talk, but It was such an embarrassing moment for me to have to be on a playground with a kid that doesn't know how to use a wheelchair and for that to be a punishment and what it taught everybody, like all the other kids on the playground, all the adults, this little boy and me that living with a disability is a punishment. And we need to shift that narrative because it is just another way to live. It's like, again, it's a part of the human experience.
Embracing Identity and Its Impact
But as I have aged and gone through many ups and downs in life experiences, I've also realized that pushing through the tough stuff in life, pushing through challenges and adversity, if you're bold and brave enough to at least try, you might not overcome everything, but The path to trying and experiencing the tough stuff in life gives you that bravery and that will and that want to try again. And for me, it took me until my 40s to be like, yes, I'm disabled. Let's talk about it on stage. But once I did, I really have seen not only its impact to the people that I'm speaking with, the organizations that I'm working with. um, the value that it brings to society and the workplace, but also the, um, I guess the acknowledgement of myself, you know, like when I started to actually lean into the things that I felt like I needed to hide, cause they were so different than, than typical and I'm air quoting if you're not watching, but typical abilities, um, it was freeing. It's free to be who you are. Um, and the more I dip my toe in like, oh, I think I'm gonna share this. How will that land? And it is unbelievable how that feels as a human when we all have stuff that we wanna hide and that we want to have different. And it's how do you take those differences instead of them being limiting, leverage them as attributes, as something that you can leverage in life that makes you better, that makes you more creative or whatever it might bring to the table. And so once I put power in the path, Even if I was faking it sometimes, you know, sometimes you got to fake it until you get comfortable too. But a lot of doors started to open up once I started leaning in.
The Importance of Communication and Collaboration for Inclusion
We watch, but we don't communicate. And that lack of communication of this topic has been a blocker for millennia. You know, we've been stuck. Like that's why we're not seeing and not included in so many conversations because we've been taught from a very young age. Don't ask, don't discuss, look away, maybe take a sneak peek, but don't offend. And the reality is that we don't progress as a society on anything if we're not communicating and collaborating. Like that's what inclusion is. Inclusion is like learning about somebody else's perspective and then doing something, sharing it, like discussing it, exploring it. And so for me, that piece alone, like we teach our kids when they're young, don't like curious, like beautiful, you know, for me, and I can't speak for all disabled people, but for me, I want to engage. I want like talking about my disability is not shameful. It is a part of who I am.
Future of Accessibility and Legislation
So it's a big mountain to climb. And you're definitely moving the needle. What do you think is the biggest thing that needs to happen in the next few years on this front? We need there to be a major focus on accessibility as, again, like a philosophy in organizations. We need legislation and policies to advance. ADA and Rehabilitation Act and the legislation that's out there, it's foundationally important but it's bare bone basic and a lot of organizations stop there we've got the ramp we're good but how do we look at the bigger picture to say is you know like what are the other things how can we make these processes smoother and it really comes with with like policy change and looking at every department and and creating ongoing training to understand so employees feel comfortable, even not even employees like society.
The Importance of Communication and Collaboration for Inclusion
an hour ago
We watch, but we don't communicate. And that lack of communication of this topic has been a blocker for millennia. You know, we've been stuck. Like that's why we're not seeing and not included in so many conversations because we've been taught from a very young age. Don't ask, don't discuss, look away, maybe take a sneak peek, but don't offend. And the reality is that we don't progress as a society on anything if we're not communicating and collaborating. Like that's what inclusion is. Inclusion is like learning about somebody else's perspective and then doing something, sharing it, like discussing it, exploring it. And so for me, that piece alone, like we teach our kids when they're young, don't like curious, like beautiful, you know, for me, and I can't speak for all disabled people, but for me, I want to engage. I want like talking about my disability is not shameful. It is a part of who I am.
Future of Accessibility and Legislation
So it's a big mountain to climb. And you're definitely moving the needle. What do you think is the biggest thing that needs to happen in the next few years on this front? We need there to be a major focus on accessibility as, again, like a philosophy in organizations. We need legislation and policies to advance. ADA and Rehabilitation Act and the legislation that's out there, it's foundationally important but it's bare bone basic and a lot of organizations stop there we've got the ramp we're good but how do we look at the bigger picture to say is you know like what are the other things how can we make these processes smoother and it really comes with with like policy change and looking at every department and and creating ongoing training to understand so employees feel comfortable, even not even employees like society.
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126 Diversity, Equity, inclusion, Accessibility (DEI&A) with Alycia Anderson