D.I.Y. D.E.I. The MEDC Way
Screenshot from the DEI MEDC Speaker Series.
Back on September 27, I had an opportunity to present to the team at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) as part of their Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Speaker Series.
Over the past year, the MEDC has been conducting a monthly Speaker Series, where they have asked different individuals to come and speak about their life experiences (both personal and professional) in an interview style format, which is intended to give their team an opportunity to learn and confront their own biases, and identify where they need to make improvements in their own programs and services.
Aileen Cohen serves as the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer for the MEDC and is the person responsible for overseeing this effort.
“Through the monthly Speaker Series, we generally have had around 90% of our team attending these voluntary sessions,” said Cohen, “demonstrating, I believe, a very strong interest in moving our organization forward.”
The one-on-one Q&A style interview sessions are usually moderated by Cohen, or as was the case with the September 27 session, MEDC’s Chief Executive Officer Quentin Messer.
“I was really excited to have Chris join us, because of the variety of perspectives that he brings to the table, “ explained Messer, who I have to say, was up to the task, and expertly managed an energetic, and oftentimes humorous hour long exchange with yours truly, as we touched on a variety of accessibility and disability-related topics.
I know dozens and dozens of people at the MEDC, dating back to my tenure with the State of Michigan when I had worked closely with many of these folks on different projects. However, Quentin is relatively new to the MEDC, so when I logged into the Zoom seminar a few minutes before the scheduled start of our session that day, it was our first time actually getting a chance to meet one another.
Of course, we immediately hit it off – especially after the following exchange just a few minutes into our conversation…
Chris: You can’t experience something like this without maintaining a little bit of levity, and trying to have a good sense of humor about stuff. Because there is a lot of funny stuff, even when you go through a horrible situation like I went through.
Quentin: Well Chris, I mean, that’s a great Segway. So, you talked about humor. So, tell us, share some of those moments of levity. You know, I’m a failed stand-up comic, so I think of Eddie Murphy, some of his, Eddie Murphy’s routine, talking about Stevie Wonder impressing him and things of that nature. But talk about your own humor, use of humor, and how that’s helped you. Maybe give us a good joke or two, if you have one, if you’re comfortable sharing…
Chris: Well, a lot of mine is just situational stuff, and I actually write about a lot of these on the blog. I mean, I’ve now been at it for a couple of years, so there’s a whole treasure trove of these stories out there. Which, you know, I try to mix up some of the personal stuff, some of the funny stories, with, kind of, some of the business content. And also, stories about other individuals with disabilities, or other organizations who are doing great things to support the disability community, because I want that variety. But there’s a story on the blog about a time that I was at Cedar Point and my prosthetic eye flew out while I was on the Top Thrill Dragster. So, yeah, there was that (chuckles.) There’s a lot of situational things…
Quentin: I’m sorry, that’s funny. I’m sorry…
Chris: Yeah, it was – it IS funny – and ah…
Quentin: …So, how does…so…you’ve got to stop… Okay, I dropped the, I’m sorry to interrupt, but I dropped the link to the blog in the chat. But you just can’t say something like that, and just walk away from it. So, you’ve got to…I know everyone is going to go to the blog, they’re probably at the blog right now, but you’ve got to give us more than…after that set-up…you’ve got to give us, what happened?
And that’s how MEDC’s new CEO (and everyone else who works for the MEDC, for that matter) learned about the time that my fake eye ended up in the Cedar Point lost and found.
On a more serious note, the Speaker Series presentation was a great chance for me to talk about some of the exciting accessibility testing work I am currently doing to support Brian Krantz, Jen Loebig, Kelly Wolgamott, and others responsible for managing the various MEDC and Pure Michigan web sites.
“The accessibility assessment and testing services that Chris and Accessiversity provide are crucial for those that we serve, but I think that outside of our IT staff that Chris works with regularly, I don’t think most staff really had much of an idea what goes into that work,” explained Cohen. “I think Chris was able to bring to light some things that most of us take for granted, everyday inconveniences for the average person that might create impossible barriers for those who may have a disability, and through his unique way of sharing his experiences, our team was able to think about things from this different perspective.
Perspective is everything, in fact, at one point in the presentation I referenced a comment that Brian Krantz had recently shared with me.
It was shortly after I had started to work with Brian on this latest project. Turns out that Brian’s renewed interest/focus on accessibility goes back to the days when the two of us were working together as part of a cross-agency initiative called the Michigan Talent Team that was being headed up by Val Hoag. Brian, who was providing IT support to our small, cross functional team had witnessed me struggle with inaccessible technology on numerous occasions. Those interactions with me obviously made a long-lasting impression on him, since, as he explains it, it ultimately resulted in him stepping up to champion the important accessibility work that we are now engaged in together.
And we’re just getting started.
I guess that really sums up the project with the MEDC, and their ongoing efforts to tackle diversity, equity and inclusion within their organization. It is important work that needs to be done, but just like with accessibility, you’re never done. It requires an ongoing commitment from everyone within the organization, from the top down, and bottom up.
And like I explained toward the end of my presentation to them, there are many signs that point to the fact the MEDC is on the right track; the fact that they’ve created a position for a DEI Officer, the fact that they host the monthly DEI Speakers – the fact that they invited me to come and speak to them and share some of my experiences as a person with a disability. And of course, the fact that they are engaging with an organization like Accessiversity to provide accessibility assessment and testing services, that all adds up to an organization that gets it.
I know Quentin said something to the effect of “We are grateful that Chris was willing to share his story with us, and shine some light on how we as an organization, and as a State can strive to do better.”
No Quentin, it’s all of us who are grateful, me and every other person with a disability out there that needs more organizations like yours to step up, follow your lead and start up their own DEI and accessibility initiatives. More organizations like the MEDC who don’t just say, they do, who roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. After all, that’s the only way you’re ever going to leave your print on a more accessible world.