LinkedIn Speaker Series: Haben Girma
Ladies. And gentlemen, Brendan Brown. Welcome. To today's, LinkedIn, speaker series give yourselves a round of applause for being here today, and. Welcome. To everyone on the stream as well as the people in the room here in Sunnyvale for, those that aren't aware the LinkedIn speaker, series happens, about once a, month and it's. An opportunity for us to bring together speakers. From across the world from a variety of backgrounds, covering. A range of topics from. Technology. Innovation. Social. Topics, pure. Inspiration leadership. And it's a chance for people to come together to learn and gain some new perspective, we. Host here at LinkedIn if, you can't be here you can join on the stream like. We're doing here today and if, you want to check out any of our past speakers you can go to our website and make sure I get this right it's I think it's linked in speakers, calm. Speakers. LinkedIn calm speakers, LinkedIn, calm, so. Check it out lots of great past speakers are, on there for you to take. In and on your own time I am. So, excited to welcome haben, Girma to LinkedIn today a little. Bit about who haben, is she is a world, recognized. Leader around, the topics, of people with disabilities, diversity. Using. Disability, to drive innovation, she's, someone who inspires, wherever, she goes she. Is a White, House honoree, under the Obama, administration. She's. Recognized, on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, she. Was recognized, as. Part of the black, girls who rock awards, for, BBT this, year and just noticed. Yesterday she, was recognized, as one of the top 100, most, influential, Africans. Along, with some names that you definitely know which, is incredible, and. A little bit about how. I get to know haben so, my name is Brennan Brown and I head up our recruiting team I'm also the executive sponsor. Of, enabling. Which, is our ERG. Round of applause for Dave, which. Is our. Employee. Resource resource. Group focused, on people with disabilities. It's. A topic that I'm purse and professionally, passion about I have an 11 year old son who was born profoundly deaf so. These are opportunities for me to bring together really Who I am as a person as a dad as, a partner, and as a professional. And. I was one, morning about two years ago doing, what I usually do which is come in check out what's going on on the LinkedIn feed see. What my networks talking, about what the hot topics, are and saw, that. Haben was being recognized, under. Obama as a White House honoree I thought it was remarkable the, headline was Harvard, laws first deafblind graduate.
Gets Recognized, and, my. Mind was just blown on. Many dimensions so. I do what I do when I moved like that and I commented. On this. Post and said congratulations haben. Didn't know haben at the time and then. Within minutes, I get an, email, from. A. Gentleman who. I got to know because, I'm a recruiter and he we interviewed him at LinkedIn he didn't end up coming to work at LinkedIn but. Someone I stayed in touch with we say relationships, matter here at LinkedIn Canada. Experience, matters as well but he pinged me and said hey I saw your comments on the. Post about haben, would you like to meet her and I, said my goodness I'd be honored to meet her so. He, made the introduction, and we met. Over. In our Mountain, View office at the time a couple years ago it, was an incredibly moving meeting, and really. Had to get my head around wow this is a relationship, that could be so, valuable for me immediately. I felt like haben was someone who could mentor me on. Many many topics, across many many dimensions, and then, in my role as a head of recruiting in my role as the executive, sponsor of the ERG, focused on these topics we've. Been able to get her involved in things like take. A look at our product from an accessibility point of view meeting. Our executives, over the past six months she's, helping us think through training, for. Our hiring managers and just people across the company in general with a series called let's talk about disabilities. So she's, someone who has been absolutely. Instrumental for, us to think about these topics differently, and definitely, a testament, to the fact that relationships. Do matter so, please welcome to the stage haben, Girma. Why. Wait. Good. Girl. Before, we get started we have a tradition, here at LinkedIn, when, we have folks join us on stage to. Share one thing that is not on their LinkedIn profile. So haben. Could. You share one thing that is not a near LinkedIn profile. Good. Morning, everyone. So. I'll share one thing that's not on my LinkedIn profile. When. I was in high school I traveled. To Mali in West Africa, to help build a school and, when, I say build a school I literally. Mean, build, a school we. Were out in the Sun sifting. Sand. Making. Bricks, digging. The latrine, it was very difficult work, but very, rewarding to, actually, create, a physical structure, that. Will support education. For kids in Africa, so, that's the one thing that I've done that's not on my profile. That. Is a great story. Very. Very cool, take it away Albin. Thank. You Brendan. So. My, name is haben Girma and, as, you heard i'm deafblind. Deafblind. Encompasses. A spectrum. Of vision, and hearing loss there's. Lots of diversity in the disability, community and, within. Various, disability, groups there's also lots of diversity. One. Of the techniques, I use for, communicating, with people is a. Digital. Braille display, one. Moment my dog just switched positions. So, for communication. I use a digital Braille, display, I'm, holding. It up on the. Bottom our dots and I. Run my finger, over the dots to feel the letters. Braille. Is, a tool, that. Helps people, who. Are blind access. Information it's. One, of many tools, so. I use my fingers, to read the digital Braille on this computer, and in, the front row, Corey. Is typing, on a kriti, keyboard, that's, wirelessly.
Connected, To my Braille display, and Corey. Transcribes. Visual. And audio information, that. I then read in digital Braille. So. If, the, audience laughs, if. People smile, if. People, fall asleep. Corey. Gives me all that information. That's. One technique for, accessing. Information. Disability. Is an opportunity. To, create new solutions. Oftentimes. People, think of disability as a burden, as a problem. That's, the dominant disability. Story but. We could shift that story. Myname. Haben. Comes. From Eritrea, it's. A small country in Northeast Africa if. They don't be a borders to the south and to the north as the Red Sea my. Mother grew up during the war, there. Were a lot of struggles, a lot of violence. Schools. Became. A place where, students, can learn and. Stories. Facilitated. That learning. Stories. Are very powerful. My. Mother heard many stories. Some. Stories, said. America's. The land of opportunity. America's. The land of freedom and those. Stories, inspired, her to, take the dangerous, journey to. Walk from, Eritrea, to, Sudan, she. Was a refugee. And said, for. About ten months and, then a refugee, organization helped. Her come to the United States. Several. Years later, older. Wiser. My. Mother realized it's, not geography. That creates justice, it's. People. That create, justice. Communities. Create, justice, all. Of us face the choice, whether. To tolerate, injustice. Or. Advocate. For equality for all as. The. Daughter of refugees, a black, woman, disabled. Lots. Of stories, say my life doesn't matter I, choose. To create my own definitions. I choose. To create my own story. And the. Story I choose, says. Disability. Is an opportunity. For solutions. I've. Developed lots, of different solutions, you've. Heard one solution, for communication. For. Traveling, around I, can, use the white cane or. I can, work with him a service dog I have a guide dog named, Maxine, she's. Been dreamed to, go around obstacles. Stop. At corners, stop. If there's oncoming traffic. So. We work with this team and that's one strategy. There's. Strategies, for just about everything, for. Using computers, I use. A, smartphone I use. A. Mac. And. Those. Are designed with, accessibility. With. Software. Applications. That, allow blind, individuals. To. Connect a digital Braille display, or if. Someone could hear to, listen to the computer, and access information that, way so. There are lots of alternative, techniques. It's. Really, a matter of communities, choosing. To be inclusive, disabilities. Number, the barrier. Most. Barriers that exist are actually, created, by society. When. I was in college I asked. Myself what. Can I do to. Make our world more accessible, what. Can I do to, be the change I want to see in the world I, went. To college at Lewis, and Clark it's a, small College, in Portland Oregon. Sounds. Like there's some Oregonians, in here. Lewis. And Clark had. A cafeteria. That, served as a central, place for students, to hang out connect, between classes. When. You enter, the cafeteria.
Along. Three of the walls are large windows. Showcasing. Portland's, ream. Along. The fourth wall were. Food stations, and. People. Would walk up to the cafeteria front. Door browse. The print menu and, then, go to their station, of choice. The. Menu was in print. Blind. Students. Like myself can, read that menu. Blindness. Wasn't the problem the. Problem was the format, of the menu, so. I went to the cafeteria manager. And I explained. Then. I can't access the menu because of the format of the menu could. They provide the menu in other formats. Like. Braille, or. They could email me the menu and I can access, the email using. My assistive, technology, on my computer, on my laptop. Or. They. Could post them in you online and, if they did that then, everyone would be able to access it, in, advance they, don't have to be right at the cafeteria, to learn about the food options. The. Cafeteria. Manager, told me they're, very busy. I should, stop complaining and, be more appreciative. But. If there's chocolate, cake it's station, four and no one tells me. I'm. Not feeling appreciative. Back. Then I was a vegetarian, it's. Hard to eat vegetarian when, you don't know what the food choices are. Sometimes. I would wait in line for 20 minutes. Get. Food, find. A table try. The, dude and discover. An unpleasant, surprise. It. Was, frustrating. But. For the priests first. Few months I told myself to just tolerate, the situation, I, told. Myself at, least. I have food. Lots. Of people around the world struggle, to gain access to food why. Should I complain. My. Mother when, she was my age was. A refugee. In Sudan, and, there. I was, in Oregon, getting. Access to an education. Who. Was I to complain. Maybe. The manager was ray maybe. I should stop complaining I. Talked. To my friends, about the situation, and they. Reminded, me it's. My choice, it's. Our choice, to. Exempt, unfairness, or, advocate. For justice I, did. Some research and, I, learned about the Americans, with Disabilities, Act the. ADA a prohibits. Discrimination, against, people with disabilities. Places. Of public accommodation.
Like, The cafeteria. Are, required, by law to ensure, access. Armed. With the few knowledge, I went. Back to the cafeteria manager. And explained. The Americans, with Disabilities, Act I said. But. They didn't provide reasonable. Accommodations. I'm, gonna sue I. Had. No idea how I would do that I. Was. 19, I couldn't, afford a lawyer. Nowadays. I know that there are nonprofit law. Firms that, will advocate. For the rights to people with disabilities, for free. Nowadays. I know I could have filed a complaint with the US Department of Education or Department, of Justice but. Back then I didn't know any of that all. I knew, is that I had to try if, I, wanted the world to be more inclusive and, accessible I need. A job became, I couldn't, expect, other people, to do all the advocating. I had, to advocate to. The. Following, day the. Manager apologized. And, agreed. To make, the menus accessible, and he, actually did, they, started, emailing, the menus and I could read them emails, on my computer. And, could make informed food choices. Now. I'm negating, around the cafeteria, was easy I had. Training on how to use a white cane to, navigate, spaces, so. If the menu said, station. 3 tortellini. I knew. To go straight to station 3. Having. Access to the menu life. Became delicious. The. Following, year another blind. Student, came to the college he. Didn't have to advocate, for access, to the menu the. Cafeteria. Immediately started. Providing access I. Realized. That when I advocate. It, doesn't, just help me, it also helps, our whole community and. That. Experience, inspired, me to go to law school in. 2010. I entered. Harvard laws their first deafblind student. Harvard. Told me we've, never had a deafblind, student before and, I, told Harvard, I've never been Harvard, Law School before. We. Didn't know exactly, what. The solutions, would be there. Were many unknowns. But. We engaged, in, an interactive process to. Find the solutions, we. Tried one thing if it didn't work we tried another thing, we. Used high, expectations. Creativity. Patience. Until. We found all the solutions, we needed, and. In, 2013 I. Graduated. Next. Slide. We. Have a photo, from graduation. Dean. Minow is handing, me my. Diploma. We're. Both wearing academic. Regalia and my. Guide dog Maxine. Is wearing a fancy fur coat. What. I just did is called an image description, and image, descriptions. How, blind, individuals. Gain access to photos. When. You share photos, on LinkedIn. On other, places. Remember. To include image, descriptions. So, that everyone, can have access to the story, image. Descriptions. Also include. Search, engine. Optimization. J'en optimization. When. More checks just associated. With your content, more, people, can find your content, so, it benefits, everyone. So. I graduated, in, 2013, and, began. Working as a disability, rights attorney I help. Teach organizations. And individuals. How, to make our world more accessible, for everyone. Inclusion. Is really a, choice. I'm. Gonna share a photo that demonstrates. How inclusion, is a choice, next. Slide. We. Have a photo, with President. Obama standing. At a table he's. Typing on a kriti keyboard, I'm, also. Standing, at the table and I'm reading from a digital Braille display. President. Obama, usually. Communicates, by voice. When. I met him we explained, that I'm deafblind, and I, access, information best. Through, text. So. He graciously, switched, from. Voicing, to typing. So, that he could connect and we can have a conversation. Access. Is a choice, when. We choose to be inclusive, we. Also become, role models and. Our, communities, see, what we're doing and are, inspired to follow us and also be inclusive. So. That's another, reason to choose inclusion. You. Become an advocate to and, inspire. Those, in your community to, also choose English in. Inclusion. Comes, in many forums, another. Form of, for people with disabilities, is sign language, nextslide. Deaf. Communities. All over the world have. Developed a sign languages, in, the. United States, the dominant, language is American Sign Language in. France. It's French, sign language across. The pond the Brits have a completely. Different language that makes no sense to me. They. Call it British sign language. This. Is actually, a form of innovation, if, you.
Can't, Hear. Conversation. You, can create visual. Conversation. Throughout. Our history people. With disabilities, have, been innovating. Solutions to. All kind of challenges, sign. Language, is a form of innovation. The. Deafblind. Community, has. Developed tactile. Sign language in, this, video, a young, man is signing, to me I have. My hands, over, his hands, to, feel his science, that's. Called tactile, sign language and it's. Also a form of innovation, there's. Lots, of different ways for people to connect and share information. Next. Slide. Another. Form of communication is. Dance. Here's. A video with salsa, dancing, and. Salsa. Dancing, is, similar. To sign language in some sense and that their signals. They. Can be visual, they, can be tapped all when. I dance with people. They. Switch. Some, of the visual signs to, tactile, signs so. That I can feel them and access. The music and access, the dance. Some. People, might be skeptical, the, deafblind. Individuals could, dance if. Someone. Is deaf. And. Sighted. They, can see they. Can watch the other dancers. And see, the beat by, watching the other day. They. Also might, watch the hands of the musicians, and see, the beat through, the hands of the musicians. Someone. Who's blind and, can, hear can. Hear the music and respond. To the beat in the music, the. Way I access. Music is through dance through partner. Dancing, like salsa. Swing, and other dances, I can. Dance in communities, that, choose to be inclusive. I've, actually been denied, access to. Various salsa, communities, for different reasons all, of, them just. Coming down to people choosing, not to be inclusive. I had. A South second place in DC. Deny. Me access because. I have a service dog and they, said no dogs allowed. Under. The Americans, with Disabilities. Act. Service. Dogs are allowed, to go anywhere the public can go they're, protected, under the Americans with Disabilities, Act, some. People don't know so. There's a lot of Education, that needs to happen to, make sure that our communities, are inclusive, and that everyone, has access. There. Are lots of good reasons to choose inclusion. Next. Slide. One. Of the reasons, if you increase, your reach, throughout. The world they're 1.3. Billion people with disability, is that's. A huge, market, so. When you make your services, accessible, you get to tap into a larger, market which. Means more consumers. Larger. Audience, and more, revenue, in the long run. Within. The US there, are 57, million, Americans, with disabilities. Another. Reason is content. Discoverability. Image. Descriptions. For example, when, you add image descriptions. You, increase the text, associated with your content, which. Makes it possible. For people more people to find your content, in addition. To the blind community. Being able to access your content. When. You add captions. And transcripts. To videos and podcasts. Then. You have more text, associated with, your content, what. Helps with content, discoverability. It. Also helps. With tapping, into the deaf community and. Allowing. Your message to be shared within the deaf community. These. Book reports that. Adding, captions to, video. Actually. Increases. The average of your time of the video by. About 12%. So. There are good business reasons to, include captions. And transcripts, with your content. Another. Reason is, innovation. Disability. Drives, innovation. Throughout. Our history there are lots of examples of, people with disabilities, driving, innovation. Oftentimes. Were, hidden figures. Most. People, don't know about these stories, so. We need to help get these stories out so. That people start to realize that. Disability. Drives, innovation, I'll. Share, some examples. Back. In 1808, there, were two friends one. Sided went blind in Italy. They. Wanted to be able to send each other letters. Back. Then this. Was before email, this, was before Braille, if a. Blind person, wanted to write a letter they. Would voice their, letter and someone, else would write it down for them these. Two friends couldn't do that their. Letters had to stay secret, they. Were love letters. So. They decided, to see this as a design, opportunity. Hmm. What. Can they do to create a system, so, that someone can produce a letter a love, letter, secretly. Without. Needing. To ask someone, else to write it down for them and. They. Ended, up developing the, first working, typewriter.
On A, typewriter, you, can press keys, memorize. The layout of the keys and produce. Print, without. Requiring, site. Nowadays. Lots, of people type on keyboards. And. Some. Of the fastest. Typists. Are touch, typists. So. Disability. Is an, opportunity. To develop new solutions. I'll. Give another example. Vint. Cerf it's one of the fathers of the internet and. Before, the internet existed as, we know it today. Deaf. Individuals. Struggle. To find ways to communicate long, distance, Vince. Cerf himself. Is hearing-impaired. And his wife is also hearing-impaired. So. He was particularly interested. In solutions that. Would help people communicate, that. Didn't require hearing. He. Developed, the earliest, email, protocol, and when. You send messages, through email, you get, to communicate information. Without. Requiring, people, to stream, to here, nowadays. Lots, of people use email and, this. Is another example of, how disability, drives, innovation, if. We're, thoughtful, and creative. Disability. Disability. Challenges. Can. Help us come up with solution, that. Will become the next big thing. So. See disability as, an opportunity. To create something new that, will benefit the entire community, so. We. Just shared some great reasons, to choose inclusion. Innovation. Increasing. Content, discoverability, and, reaching. A larger audience if, you're. Not convinced. There's another reason, legal. Requirements. The. Americans, with Disabilities. Act prohibits, discrimination. Against. People with disabilities I. Worked. On a case, called. National, Federation of, the blind versus, script. Script. Is a digital, line very and. Script. Argued. That, because their library, is online. They. Don't have to comply with the Americans with Disabilities, Act. We. Argued, yes, you do, and. That. Case went to court and, the, judge looked. At the various arguments, and. Held. That. Online. Businesses. Are, required. To, comply, with the Americans with Disabilities, Act, so. Online, businesses. Do, need to look into accessibility, and make, sure people with disabilities, can access services. There's. More to the Americans, with Disabilities, Act, that's, but that's one. Very important, point that we. Need. To share with in Silicon, Valley and, make sure all tech companies, know there. Are lots of great reasons to choose inclusion. Including. Business, reasons, that will help drive revenue but. There's also legal, requirements. In, terms. Of, digital accessibility. Digital. Accessibility takes. Many different forms. One. Form is, compatibility. With screen readers and I'm. Gonna share a short video, that explains. How screen readers work next. Slide a. Screen. Reader is a program, that converts graphical, information to speech or digital Braille, the. Screen reader on the iPhone is called voiceover, voiceover. Also works in the Mac iPad. And the, Apple watch, so. When I'm using my phone I use voiceover. Voiceover. Speak, out loud and send. Information to the digital Braille display. News. Checking. For new news National. Geographic on, red world's, largest rodents, on lamb from Toronto Zoo. Using. The advance for red button if, I. Wanted to instead use hand gesture on the iPhone I, could, flick right with one finger. To. Open an item I can double tap anywhere on the screen. Text. Size caption. Title, WIC title world's lark title, after escaping, from the High Park Zoo in Canada to kappa doors have eluded capture for by jason beetle published, to not most people do their best to avoid rodents, of unusual size, but.
After A pair of capillaries escaped from Toronto's, Hyde Park Zoo on mate alert Gordon, hi, I'm at the door sushi, pot of food fish, cake with swirl design. My. Friends of the dorsum just gonna let him know. Close. Button. Reply. Button. Messages. Notification. And. In. There. I'm. Almost. Done. With, this. Demo. Send. Button. Voiceover. Has allowed me to access more information news. Mail, and messages and, it's also a way for me to know when friends, are at the door thanks. For watching bye. So. That's an example of a screen reader. Voiceover. On Apple. Products, as one screen reader there's, also screen readers that work on other. Platforms. Android. Microsoft. And, those. Screen readers are called, talkback. Jaws. Window. Eyes and, VGA. And, many, others. So. When you design products. To, be accessible. With, these screen. Readers then, blind individuals. Can access them they. Can listen to the content, it'll. Read everything, on the screen or. It'll. Output to, a Bluetooth Braille, display, or USB, Braille display, the. Braille display I, have this one model, there, are many different, models some, smaller some, larger. So. That's one example. Another. Form of accessibility, is, captioning. Make. Sure all videos, have captions, this. Allows deaf individuals, to access the audio content in video it. Also helps, a lot of hearing individuals. Sometimes. Hearing people, want to be sneaky, if they. Don't want people to know they're watching a video so. They'll turn off the audio and, watch the video using captions. So. Captions. Help the deaf community and. They also help, the hearing community. Another. Example is. Assistive. Assistive. Devices a, Braille. Display is, one form of assistive, device, another. Is, called switch, control. Some. Individuals, have mobility disabilities. And, maybe. Are not able to use a mouse or, a keyboard and, they'll, use switch. Control, or other. Similar, alternative. Devices, that, connect, with, the computer, and allowed, them to operate, the computer, so. Designing, with accessibility. Allows. Individuals. Allows. Companies, like LinkedIn, to, reach more individuals. There. Are guidelines online. To, help make this happen the. Web content, accessibility guidelines. Helps. Web developers, make, sure their services are accessible on. Mobile. Products. There's Apple, and Android accessibility. Guidelines. So. That helps, with making services. Accessible. These. Are some of the things that exist. But. Keep innovating, keep. Thinking about new ways for people to connect and share information. LinkedIn. Has an accessibility team. Connect. With the accessibility, team ask. About, different questions, you have returned, whether. You're not sure something is accessible, or you, know something is accessible, and you want to help get feedback, on how to make it accessible. Work. With the accessibility, team here to help make that happen and. Sometimes. You'll find yourself. Coming up with new solutions. That'll, help you and, also help the larger community. Our. Goal is to make sure all services. Are accessible, I'm. Not a fan, of separate. Services, separate. Websites, and separate apps for people with disabilities. Separate. Is never equal, we. Want to strive to have one. Service. One, app one, website that, everyone. Can use it. Might. Be tempting to make an assumption that oh a blind, person, wouldn't use this or, a deaf person, would never use this but.
Don't Make those assumptions. Instead. Strive. To make every, accessible. A. Few. Years ago I went, to Beijing for. The very first time and. When, I arrived, in Beijing after, the long flight I was exhausted. Tired. And, I wanted to immediately, go to my hotel room and take a nap. Before. I went to sleep I decided to explore the room, because. It's, me Shing and it's my first time in Beijing. And. While. Exploring, the room I discovered. A strange. Object I, was. Feeling, it in my hand trying, to figure out what it was, it. Almost, felt like a piece of fruit and, I. Wondered. Hmm. Should, I taste, it I, was. Very curious, to figure, out what it was but. Not curious, enough to bite into an unknown object. So. Instead. I, got, out my phone, took. A picture and, texted. It to a friend, asking. What is this. Next. Time. It. Was, dragon, fruit and. I. Discovered, I like dragon Fred a. Lot. Of people would assume then, blind people, wouldn't use cameras. And might, think oh there's, no point in making a camera, feature accessible. But. Blind people, do use cameras, we. Do upload, photos, to LinkedIn. And other social media platforms. So. Make sure all services. Are accessible. You'll. Be surprised. Don't. Make assumptions about what people, can or can't do will, surprise you, so, strive. To make every service. Every feature, accessible. So, that everyone. Can engage it and use LinkedIn. Next. Time. Plan. For accessibility from. The start. It'll. Save you time and, will. Lead to better design. Imagine. Someone, building. A skyscraper. Without. Thinking about accessibility and. After. They've created the, skyscraper. They go hmm. I wonder. When we should add an elevator. It's. More. Costly. And, time-consuming. To. Add an elevator, after you've already created, a building. Instead. It would make more sense to add, the elevator, into, the designs and create. The structure from the start with an elevator. Same. Principle. Applies in the digital world, before. You build new features, plan. For accessibility, again. Connect, with accessibility, team here in LinkedIn and. And. Have. Individuals. With disabilities, also, be part of the process of testing. Out features, providing. Feedback to. Ensure accessibility. There. Are guidelines the. Web content, accessibility guidelines. Apple. And Android accessibility, guidelines. For, making services, accessible, the. LinkedIn. Accessibility. Team also has internal guidelines that. Everyone. Can tap in to engage. With. The community, there, are also organizations. Like, the, Steve Britt Cisco lighthouse for the blind the. National, Federation of the blind that. Can help provide more testers. To. Get outside feedback on, how, features are working and how, accessible, something is. People. With disabilities, have. Expertise. And knowledge and, there, are also engineers. Programmers, designers. With, disabilities. Make. Them part of your team, increase. Hiring of people with disabilities.
Having. Different, perspectives at, the table. Makes. The team stronger, diverse. Teams or stronger, teams. Teacher. Colleagues. About, accessibility. Make. Sure everyone, knows about, the reasons, for choosing inclusion. You. Reach more people you. Help with con discoverability. You. Drive innovation and, you. Meet legal requirements. Next. Slide. I'm. Sharing, the video. From. The City Museum and, st. Louis Missouri. When. I went to the City Museum I, had. No idea what, to expect, there's. A vertical obstacle. Course. That. Goes about four storeys high and, I. Climbed the obstacle, course in the video I can't. See the path, my. Friend is filming. Unable. To provide, descriptions, of what to expect. But. I'm not afraid of the unknown, the. Unknown, can be exciting. Exploring. Leads. To new discoveries and. Bracing. Your inner pioneer. Can, leave too many amazing, discoveries, so. Don't be afraid of the unknown, the. Unknown is scary for, as, long as you let it stay unknown, so. Keep exploring, be, creative, find. Find, innovative solutions, and help. Make your team stronger. Next. Time. So. This slide has my contact, information. My. Website, is haben, Girma comm, and I'm, also on LinkedIn. Twitter. Facebook. And. Email. Addresses, contacted. Haben Girma comm. We're. Gonna open up for questions and answers and. For, questions. We're. Gonna have a keyboard. To. The right of the stage from the audience's, perspective and. People. Can come up and type, their question, don't. Worry about spelling and grammar I. Won't. Reveal your typos. I'll. Need, when you type out loud so, the audience can also know what you're seeing so. If, you have a question, come, on up to the front type. On the keyboard and, I'll. Get. Be able to give you an answer. Hi. It's Margaret. I'm. The, global, communications. Lead for. Enable. In. Two. Questions, for you. Where. Do you like to salsa, dance I. Love. Salsa dancing. At, a place. In San, Francisco. Called, SF. Mambo, it's a green community and, it's, a lot of fun to, hang, out with people and dance. Awesome. We. Got the easy one out of the way. Thank. You so much heaven, for, being here today. And. Being. A valued, partner. For, us a tami-lynn. Brandon. Mentioned, some. Of the great work you're. Doing. Meeting. Our executives. Let's. Talk about disabilities. And. Assuring. Our tools are. Accessible. As. You, know at LinkedIn. Our. Vision, is to create. Economic. Opportunity. For, every member of the global workforce. Typing. Fast sorry no, problem. In. Order, to do. We. Need to create. An. Inclusive. And. By. And. Encourage. Our employees. To. Participate in. The. Conversation. Can. You share some examples. Of. Technology. That. Has. Been successful. And. Engaging. Folks. The. Come on the conversation. About disabilities. So. Social. Technologies. Help. Engage people, and LinkedIn. Is a. Great example of, something that helps, people learn. About new, ideas, from. Job opportunities. To. Business, strategies, and. When people share those ideas on.
LinkedIn, Others. Get to see that and maybe inspired, to take action and do, something, knowledge. Is empowering, so. The more information we share the. More we can get, people, to act and, move, towards inclusion, so. It would be creep if everyone. Could, share one. Thing you, plan to do to, make LinkedIn, more accessible, and more inclusive for everyone, one. Thing that you yourself. In your position, at LinkedIn, can, do to work towards inclusion and. I. Believe. LinkedIn, has, a. Post. On on. The newsfeed, a. Company. Post will. Go up today. To. Ask the, same question. About. Making. LinkedIn. More. Accessible. Excellent. So, if everyone could commit, to doing one thing and, sharing. What you plan to do, that'll, help, inspire. Other people to, also take action and do something we, all have to be advocates. We, all have to represent, the change we want to see in the world so. Thank, you in advance for doing that. Thank. You so much haben. Sorry. For the tapers. You. Didn't have to tell them. Hi. Haben, it's. Rachelle. Hi. Michelle as. I, mentioned. We. Have, questions. Coming. In from other, employees, on. The. Stream. So. I want to ask when. Asked. When to you go. For head. This. Is from David Lee. My. Dad has glaucoma is, losing. And. It's. Losing his vision. What. Advice, would, you. Recommend. To. Help create, new. Meaning. Hope. Recreational. Recreational. Activities. To. Combat, depression. It's. Really, helpful to stay engaged. So. Try, to. Encourage. Your father to. Get. Out in his community, and stay. Engaged in his community. Often. It's tricky, when, you're transitioning, and, developing. A new disability. Because. There are so many alternative. Techniques, that, you don't know about, so. Taking, the time to, learn alternative. Techniques, it's also helpful. Everything. From how, do you pour water, if you can't see there's, a technique for that how. Do you get to your doctor's, appointment on your own if you're, blind there's, a technique for that there. Are training, centers, that'll, help provide, this training if, you're, and if your dad could take the time to learn these techniques that. Would be incredibly, helpful and, and. Feeling, empowered, and. Gaining independence. Some. Places it, depends, on where your dad is San. Francisco Lighthouse. For the Blind provides, some training, they're, also training, centers, all around the US so. If you could share that with your dad that'd be really helpful. Thank. You. I haven't. I have a disability. So. I'm getting assistance. Typing. Are you. Voicing, or would, you like me to voice. Thank. You that's a lot easier. My. Name is Anton, Cohen and I'm a discipline, a health policy consultant. And. Then invited, a guest here, today I feel. Like someone on LinkedIn that, connects, people to the world and each other we. Have a lot of people we know in common, so. I am, good to friend that was said and said the wind ski and then, he apparently is before, you passed away at D or E as well as, Alice, Wong and many others for the disability community so. It's exciting to actually, get to meet you today I. I. Wanted. To ask he, spoke so well about all. The, progress our. Community. Has made over, the last several, decades and, at, the moment our committee, has never, been more under, threat so. I wanted, to know in, your opinion how. Can companies like, LinkedIn, support. Our community, in protecting. The, progress, we have made. LinkedIn. Is a way to share information so. If, LinkedIn. Can, make an effort to share more stories about. Disabilities. What. Are the challenges that, we all need to address what. Are the steps we can take to. Make our communities, more inclusive. What, are legislation. And changes, that we should be aware of like. Net neutrality that, affects everyone, so. If. LinkedIn, can continue, to share information. Spotlight. Disability. Stories, provide. Multiple. Perspectives. When. When. You have, reviews. And summaries. Include. The disability, perspective and, remind. Other companies, to also make their services accessible, so. Those are some of the things LinkedIn, can do. Exactly. What I was hoping you would say. Thanks. For the really inspiring.
And Insightful, and informative talk. My. Name is Krishna Rao I wanted, to highlight a, yet, another benefit, of accessible. Features this, was this is my recollection from your talk. By. Raj. Reddy that I heard several years back Raj, Reddy. Is. A professor, at, CMU. And he's. A recipient. Of the Turing Award for his pioneering work, on a and robotics. So. The context of this was he was referring to the. Assistive. Technologies, especially for the blind and he, made, a remark that instead of thinking as, accessible. Accessibility. Features just for the blind think, of it as features. That can potentially reach out to what. He calls us three, billion people at the bottom of the pyramid he. Says that most of these people or semi illiterate which. Means they cannot, read or write or, understand, any. Language and, cannot. Use keyboard. Or touch based computing, apps and he, he, advocates, that. For, such people if you think of the audiences such, very large almost. Half the size of the, world's population, okay. Assistive. Technologies, especially like voice based assistive, technologies, can, be extremely, helpful. There. Are lots of different ways to think of the disability, community it's, very. Very, diverse, there, are people, who've had limited, opportunities. And, then, there are people have, had, amazing, opportunities and. The. Thing is this, is the largest disability. Group and. It's a group that anyone, can join at any time so. It's not really us and, then it's it's. All of us our body's, constantly. Change we're. We're, constantly, changing, especially, as we grow older, and we've. Deserved dignity, and access, at every. Stage of life so. When. You choose inclusion, and you design your services, to be accessible, you're. Also doing it for you for. Your future self, or, your current self if you have a disability, but. We all change, disability. Touches, all of us and when you design services, to be accessible, you. Need to you reach a much larger, audience which. Means more business more, revenue, in the long run. Last. Question. Hi. Haben, I'm. Sunil. I. Work. On this job-seeking. Team. Thank. You for coming. Your. Presentation. Was. Better than most, ending. Did. Definitely. My. One. Question. How. Is. It. Better than most I. Don't. Mean to judge the other presenters. However. I have had a lot, of practice. Not. Just, practice. Giving, presentations. But, also theater. Classes. Public. Speaking, classes I've. Been doing public speaking since, I was about 15. I, went. To Mali to, help build a school and, when, I came back from Mali, part. Of my responsibility. Was to, teach the other students. At the high school about, Mali. About. Education. And developing, countries, and I. Gave 12, different presentations. Throughout my high school two different classes and first. It was terrifying, but. After, a while it became easier. So. I learned, through a lot of practice, I also. Work, really hard to connect with an audience I can't. See the audience, I can't, hear the audience so. I've developed an alternative, strategy for, gaining access that. Is working, with the team working. With Cori Margaret. And Rochelle and Brendan, and I did. A practice run through beforehand. So. What, you're seeing is a lot of practice in preparation, and we. Can tell those future, speakers, that LinkedIn to practice, and prepare.
To. Clarify its, it's. Not that LinkedIn. Presenters. Are bad. You're. Just so damn good. Thank. You stimu, so. That. Was our final question. Afterwards. We're gonna have an opportunity for, people to ask additional, questions in. The back of the room so, if you still have questions or, you want to do a photo feel, free to do that and, and. Brendan's, gonna come up well. I think there's no question we're, all gonna leave here with some. New perspective, I know there's things that I've learned. Here today that the good news is I think I can start implementing the second I walk out of this room but, thank, you so much for your time it's been a truly inspirational talk, and we're looking forward to continuing, the relationship with, you haben so another, big round of applause. If. You, inspired. Take. That emotion. And allow it to fuel, action. Everyone. Needs to commit to one thing to making LinkedIn more accessible, thank. You.
2017-12-19 06:19
