Continuing To Fuel The Inclusion Passion

Last week I spoke to a large group of “Zoomies” hosted by the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center in Arizona. We had people attend the event from as far away as Malaysia! It was the sort of thing I used to love to do in person. Nothing was more fun than being at a convention center or hotel, meeting new people, hugging friends & colleagues I would only see at conferences. But, more importantly, the best part was doing my favorite thing – generating conversation about inclusion. I know we’ll do it again in the future. But, for now, I’m grateful to have the chance to connect with other inclusion champions. My good friend Diane sent me this photo of her getting ready to participate in the session.

Interacting with the participants in the chatbox (what passes for social activity for me right now!) re-fueled my passion. So, in that spirit, I’ve got two cool things to share with you.

I appreciated this article in the New York Times this week about representation of the deaf community in movies and TV. This may be of particular interest to you if you are a fan of The Bachelor (I am not).

Another motivating news item for me was seeing that the White House press briefings will include ASL interpreters as standard practice.

These 2 items reminded me that we are still moving forward in the inclusion journey, but we still have further to go! So, let’s all find our passion and continue spreading the word about the benefits to all of inclusion.