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Core Principles of Inclusive Speaking
Over the last few months running this blog, we’ve set the stage (no pun intended!) to better understand a few of the reasons why inclusion considerations definitely matter to your audience. And assuming that you’re someone who makes a living monetizing the spoken word, why these people should also matter to you and your business.
We’ve established that people with disabilities are far more than the negligible minority demographic we often picture them to be. That while they are mostly ignored, these folks can easily make for up to a quarter of any given audience that we appear in front of. With 74% of people living with invisible disabilities, it becomes even easier to forget that these people are a part of our audience in the first place.
We’ve also defined that since our goal as professional communicators is to engage with as many people as possible from the platform, it is our responsibility to acknowledge that this same audience will be composed of people whose needs and expectations will possibly be very different from our own.
Below is what I consider to be the top 3 core principles of inclusive speaking when it comes to being mindful of the diversity of perspectives in our audience. They matter because, without a clear plan for mindful inclusion, those same audience members are likely to disengage from us and our content…
