Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Conference, a conference of inspiration

Last year, I had the pleasure of attending the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD) Conference, highlighting its exceptional commitment to accessibility and inclusivity. This year, I returned to the conference, which was in Seattle this time, and while it was just as accessible and inclusive as last year, this time I would like to talk about the enthusiasm and innovation. We often hear about what is not accessible, what is not compliant, what we can do better. And I would not argue with this for a second, but I think it is equally important to talk about what works, and celebrate success stories.

Of which, we had many. The hardest thing was to pick sessions, because there were many interesting ones taking place simultaneously. And if that’s not enough, one day we had a chance to visit museums and accessible exhibits, definitely not enough time to cover them all. But overall that’s not a bad thing, this way people could find something they were interested in. I went to the Gates Foundation’s exhibit, but more about it in another post.

There were many learning opportunities where I could either learn something new, or dive into what I do on a daily basis and talk about ideas and solutions with colleagues. I tried to keep a balance of both.

There was a great opportunity for networking as well, in a very accessible way, not just around the meal tables and before presentations, but this year they had networking events during the evenings where we could continue the exchange of ideas in an accessible setting. I feel that the networking was far better than last year.

But the greatest inspiration was innovation. I met people from all kinds of organizations coming up with new accessibility solutions, or just improving what they had before.

I learned about new innovations in 3d printing, tactile mapping, how the idea of music is communicated to deaf people with a tactile shirt, how an accessibility program in a museum is being reinvented, or how a teenager created a solution to print a 3d tactile photo. But this isn’t even the tip of the iceberg, each time I spoke with someone, and I probably had dozens of conversations, I learned about something new, something inspiring.

It is easy to focus on the challenges of accessibility, hearing about issues, lawsuits and complaints. But let’s not forget about the hard working people, and the success stories. I’m looking forward to the next conference in Cleveland, and to hear how this years conference is going to inspire even more ideas. For a disclaimer, it is the second year that I have participated in the LEAD Conference’s accessibility committee. This is not why I am writing this piece, rather, I participated for the second year because it is a conference that I believe can make a huge difference.