Apparently nobody understands what I do!

A week ago I went to TEDxBrisbane and walked away surprised by my experience. Not because the speakers were interesting and engaging – I expected that. Not because I met a lot of fascinating people – that’s what I was there to do.

I was pleased to find that the team took accessibility seriously, even to the point of contacting each attendee individually to ask whether there was anything that would make their experience easier and reserving specific seats in the theatre for people who requested them. We each had an advocate who ensured we got the most out of the day and linked us with people they thought we would find interesting.

My wonderful TEDxBrisbane advocate

I have hypermobile Ehlers Danlos Syndrome so sitting still for long periods is challenging for me. My reserved seat was at the back on the edge of a row so I could stand up and stretch without disturbing anyone.

I was pleased that the event was mobility friendly, had quiet spaces, and carefully catered for people with dietary requirements, but I was not surprised by this. Disability advocates have worked hard to demonstrate that this is the standard to meet, and this is what it looks like when it’s done well. Although I acknowledge that TEDxBrisbane did a great job, I shouldn’t need to applaud organisations that take accessibility seriously. In an ideal world this would be so normal it wouldn’t be worth mentioning.

The thing that surprised me was when people asked me what I do and I said I provide trauma-informed leadership training, coaching and mentoring I was met with a series of blank faces. Almost nobody I spoke with had ever even heard of trauma-informed leadership. It confirmed for me something I realised after writing for six months on Substack: in some sectors, trauma-informed leadership is a commonly used term, mostly because they are high-risk environments such as mental health or child safety where leaders have had to be creative in their approaches to mental health promotion. Outside of these niche areas apparently few people know about this.

Read the full article at The Trauma-informed Leader on Substack.