Now, more than ever, disabled youth are reaching out to me for tips on how to get more involved in advocacy work and public speaking – which thankfully, hopefully, means I’m probably doing my job right.
Disabled youth are looking for places to publish potential blog posts, asking for insights on how to book public speaking opportunities, bringing their feedback and perspectives to local organizations – and above all, getting more involved than ever in the disability rights movement.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: but my overarching goal in all of the work I do, is to not be the only one doing it (which thankfully and obviously I am not, but you get my point). The whole point of being an advocate is to not only represent your community, but to create opportunities and space for your community to represent themselves. To acknowledge that your voice is not the only voice, that your perspective is not the only perspective, and that you are not the only disabled youth who has ever existed.
To be an advocate is to use your work, privilege, and platform to help others do exactly what you’re doing – so today’s blog is all about helping other disabled youth launch their advocacy journey, build their platform, and find new opportunities!
I’ll start by sharing my own experience getting started with disability advocacy, going from literally looking up to my twin sister as an ambassador for the Arthritis Society as I struggled self-advocating for my own high school accommodations to running a full disability advocacy business today! Then, I’ll offer some tips for getting started, finding your message, building your platform, and booking gigs.
With all that in mind, I’m very excited to introduce two new initiatives designed to share my platform with other disabled youth, and have included some resources at the end to help you create your own bio, take your own headshots, and even come up with a presentation proposal and quote for when you book your first gig!
This is gonna be a long blog. I took two hours to draft it all before even actually writing it. My body is in shambles, my fingers are not cooperating, and my hips hate my very very much – and I’m just starting to actually write all of this right now.
Completely worth it. Let’s begin.
My Experience
My advocacy career started the same way as so many others: by being inspired by someone else.
For me, that was and still is my twin Makayla, who was an ambassador for the Arthritis Society before I was even diagnosed myself! I remember standing together with my family and friends at the annual charity walk, watching on as Makayla spoke from the stands to the crowd about her lived experience with arthritis.
I hate to use the I word, but she was quite inspiring here.
I remember feeling so proud (obviously, who wouldn’t be?), but also so seen, so heard, so represented – my friends didn’t know it yet, but I had just been diagnosed with arthritis too. While I didn’t imagine myself being up there that day, it was the first time I truly understood just how important disabled youth representation is.
As I began growing into my identity as a 16-year-old with arthritis, I soon realized that while I never had a hard time sticking up for others, it felt impossible sticking up for myself. I really struggled asking for accommodations in high school, feeling vulnerable and embraced with all the attention on me, what I needed, and what my limits were. But as I struggled to advocate for myself, I quickly realized I wasn’t the only one in this situation – at that time, many youth were and still are struggling with undiagnosed disabilities, especially mental health conditions.
This was my turning point.
I realized that by advocating for myself, I could also advocate for others – creating change and making sure the next disabled student to go through those doors would have, at the very least, a slightly easier time than me.
By embracing a community-based advocacy approach and taking the focus off of me as an individual in favour of pointing out inaccessible systems and processes, I was also able to discover that by approaching advocacy as a positive and educational opportunity for all those involved, I could get more response and cooperation.
This experience I had 6 years ago sticks with me today in more ways than one: while I had to partially drop out of school in favour of itinerant education as prednisone (steroid), and then methotrexate (basically microdosed chemo) completely ravaged my body, I was able to find an accommodation allowing me to partially stay in school.
At the lowest point of my disability to this day, I was able to find new meaning and purpose in advocacy – I learned how to find silver linings, positives, opportunities for change.
Yes, the negatives are there. Believe me, I know. And if others don’t know, I will tell them. But dwelling entirely on the negative has never gotten anyone very far.
(To learn more about my experiences with self-advocacy, check out my blog Self-Advocacy: Why Is It So Hard?)
So, that’s how I got started. Not by some big break, or a major event, or being scouted by some agency – it started by being inspired by someone who spoke to my lived experience, who made me feel seen and heard when I needed it the most. From there, I was able to find a voice of my own – even if it trembled, even if my throat closed up, even if I cried – I was going to be heard.
Building A Platform
Once I started to find my voice as a disability advocate, I couldn’t get enough – or, more likely, I just couldn’t stop. Once you start self-advocating and public speaking, it only gets easier – which means today could very well be the hardest it will ever be.
With so much I wanted to say, I knew I needed a platform – while one-on-one conversations are so important, having the same talks over and over was getting a little repetitive. So, like any Gen Z out there, I did what I do best: used social media!
While social media can do a lot of harm (contributing to body image issues, misinformation, performative activism, etc), it has allowed our generation to access more information and learn from all kinds of people we might have never met in real life.
I started by sharing infographics I found from the online chronic illness community, which were all well received. But then, I shared @Pacing.Pixie’s Cycle of Inaccessibility and found more engagement than ever – people really began to understand how pervasive inaccessibility is, and how excluded disabled people are from our communities.
With so many questions and comments and perspectives coming in through Instagram DM, I realized it would be a whole lot more effective to answer common questions on my story.
One major upside of chronic fatigue is that I love saving energy however I can.
And that was that. Once I started sharing my personal thoughts and answering common questions, instead of just sharing others’ ideas, things completely took off.
I was able to share educational content explaining concepts better than I could, I could give updates on medical conditions and avoid awkward one-on-one conversations, I could host anonymous Q&As, and even call out ableist practices within my community.
Being an advocate is all about community: representing your own, working with others, and making all communities better for everyone. You need people to listen, to care, to support you – and you need to listen to, care for, and support your own community in all of this!
All this to say, without my community’s initial and continued support, I would have never gotten to where I am today. To ignore that would hide the most important secret to successful advocacy work.
From this community-based social media advocacy work almost entirely through Instagram Stories, I was able to book my first few gigs!
My first ever paid gig was through my student organization during my first year at uOttawa for our annual International Development Week conference, where the organizer reached out specifically because she had seen those Instagram stories.
While I was nervous, as I had no prior professional experience, I knew my lived experience was undeniable – and that gave me, and still gives me, the confidence I need to take these opportunities.
I then booked an Instagram Live event with the Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance and Take A Pain Check (which you can watch here) on self-advocacy also through my social media advocacy work. (The fact that it was geared towards juvenile idiopathic arthritis also didn’t hurt…) This event also featured Anna Samson, and while I’ve never met them in-person I’ve been able to learn so much from them through their own online advocacy work!
I could go through the rest of my public speaking here but that feels pretty redundant, feel free to check out my list of past engagements here.
Here Comes The Blog
As my social media advocacy became more frequent and I started having more and more to say, I knew I needed a new platform – one with a greater word count, that stays up longer than 24 hours.
Cue this blog.
I started this blog in March 2022, which is somehow both already 2 years ago and only 2 years ago.
Thanks to some elementary school digital literacy classes (does anyone else remember those??) and some minor work at my beloved NEADS day job maintaining disabilityawards.ca, I had some very basic experience with wordpress and made the terrible decision to make a custom wordpress blog from scratch.
Word to the wise: use. the. default. templates.
Besides finding a new platform, this was a big milestone in my career for another reason: it was the first time I consciously decided to pursue this as a business! I paid $200 for an annual wordpress pro subscription so that my website would actually show up on search engines, and another $20 for a custom domain name.
I promised myself that I would either make $200 through disability advocacy gigs in the next 12 months, or I would go back to the free version and keep this as solely a creative outlet.
I am very happy to announce I am still on wordpress pro.
So, the blog became the blog – and I truly just published whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. No content schedule, no big plan, no guidelines or consistent format, and basically no idea what I was doing. But like most advocacy things, I just wrote from the heart and from my lived experience.
Two years later and I’m blogging the exact same way: I might have an idea I want to write about floating around in the back of my head, but more times than not I am practically possessed by a blog I need to write ASAP. Shoutout to my day job for flexible hours…
I’ve written for hours on end, right now included. I’ve hunched over in bed with a pillow on my lap holding my computer as it rocks back and forth under my enthusiastic typing. I’ve consistently demonstrated fantastic core strength balancing my laptop between my knees and my stomach, laptop precariously balanced as my hands grow stiffer and the pain races me to the finish line.
Like I said, with advocacy, one I start I just can’t stop.
And it’s literally happening right now! While I knew I wanted to write this blog for a very long time, after 3 disabled youth reached out to me for tips on how to get more involved in advocacy work in under 12 hours, I knew it was time.
And somehow, despite no big plan and writing these blogs like I’m possessed, this blogging thing worked – all because of you guys. Because you’ve supported my instagram stories, my events, my blogs, my speaking gigs, I’ve been able to get to where I am today.
Again, that’s the real secret to finding success as a disabled youth advocate – you find it in your community.
Fortunately, or unfortunately if you were looking for a quicker start, there’s no secret network or society of disabled youth advocates passing around speaking opportunities – if there was, I would definitely blab about it immediately.
The Snowball Effect (Or A Pyramid Scheme)
As the blog and social media following grew, I was able to grow my platform and book more gigs – to the point that I had to transform by blog to a website, and my side gig to a full disability advocacy business.
Don’t get me wrong, blogging is definitely one of my favourite advocacy things to do. It’s therapeutic, creative, freeing, unstructured – and I usually love how it stays up on my website forever for anyone to read, until it sends me into an existential spiral.
But I’ve also discovered new ways to advocate!
Keynotes and presentations help me deliver one big idea to a very specific audience. They’re time-limited and more often than not closed access, but they help me directly inspire change often in organizations well positioned to have a real impact.
Workshops are definitely a favourite – while again, they’re often time-limited and closed access, directly and authentically engaging in smaller groups to challenge misconceptions and really dive into specific concepts is so exciting and a fantastic challenge!
And of course, consultations are a short-term, often high-impact way to ensure projects are accessible and inclusive – creating almost instant change I can see immediately.
And all of this became possible specifically because I advertise these services on my website! It may seem obvious, but people have to know what you offer to take you up on it.
Cue the snowball effect!
Once you start booking gigs, publishing blogs, and growing your platform, you need to start spending more time maintaining all this work and meeting increased demand. I try to never think about any content – be it a blog, a workshop, a presentation – as a one-time thing.
I think it would be very sad to abandon all my old blogs to die a slow death on my website, so I like to bring them back out of retirement by referencing them in new blogs and sending them along to clients.
I do my best to include all my past speaking engagements on my about page, where people can see what organizations I’ve worked with, what kind of content I’ve put out, and even watch old events!
And, of course, I love to check in on past clients. Watching the new work they put out, checking to see if they implemented some lessons from my work, and even booking additional, follow-up gigs with them keeps the work alive and makes the advocacy work so much more sustainable.
Now this may sound like a pyramid scheme, maybe it is, but if you’re doing it right, old gigs should generate new gigs. Once you start getting exposure, building a platform, and delivering content, the hope is that people are so impressed they want to learn more.
Yeah that sounds like a pyramid scheme.
Obviously, this is just my own experience. Maybe you just want to blog! Maybe you just want to deliver presentations! Maybe you only want to speak on panels! As an advocate, it’s so important to find our own key personal message and deliver it in a way that works best for you.
Tips & Tricks
Getting Started
First, you need to reflect on your own lived experience. Try the following prompts out:
- what kind of disability/disabilities do you have?
- how have they impacted you? have they impacted you differently at work, at school, in relationships?
- do you have any intersecting identity factors that influence your experience with disability?
- what’s been your greatest challenge as a disabled person? did you find a way to solve that issue? are there barriers beyond your control preventing you from solving that issue?
- what’s been your greatest accomplishment as a disabled person? what makes you proud of your identity?
With that in mind, start reflecting on your relationship to the disability community as a whole. Start with these questions, but know that this relationship will always be evolving alongside both you and the community!
- What do you know about the disability community? Where have you learned about disability?
- How do you fit within the disability community? How much privilege do you hold? How do you practice allyship with other disabled people?
- What misconceptions and biases do you hold? How have you challenged your internalized ableism?
Now that you’ve reflected on your own lived experience and thought about the wider community context, it’s time to develop your key message – no pressure!!
After thinking about your disability/disabilities and their impacts, the barriers you face and solutions you need, and your accomplishments – does a key message organically emerge?
No worries if not, I got your back! Give these prompts a go:
- One thing I wish non-disabled people understood is…
- I think the most important thing society needs to do to tackle ableism is…
- To become a more accessible society, we all need to…
- From my lived experience, I know that…
No worries if you’re still stuck! Key messages can feel overwhelming, but once you have yours you’re set!
Just kidding – they will most likely change over time! This is perfectly normal and reflects how our own understandings of disability and our relationship to the disability community will shift over time.
With your key message hopefully in mind, we’ll want to determine your audience and method of delivery.
To find your audience, ask yourself who needs to hear your message the most, and why:
- If you want to make others feel empowered and represented, aim for your disabled peers
- If you want to make your spaces more inclusive and accessible, aim for your local communities
- If you want to challenge misconceptions and promote disability awareness, aim for the general public
- If you want to challenge oppressive structures and systems, aim for municipal/provincial/federal governments
Then, it’s time to figure out how you’re gonna get your message to your audience.
- Blogs can feature short or long written content, and are often hosted on websites like The Mighty, WordPress, Wix, or, if you’re a disabled youth, here! I know, clickbait – scroll down to the Opportunities section to learn more
- Vlogs are audiovisual versions of blog, and can be hosted on social media platforms like TikTok or YouTube
- Social media content itself is often short, written content with visual elements (think infographics, quotes, affirmations) – disability content does particularly great on Instagram and Twitter
- Keynotes/presentations are longer audio-visual and written content delivered in-person or online to specific groups based on a specific theme or concept
- Workshops are often more flexible content with a combination of audio, visual, and written elements designed to promote genuine engagement with specific concepts
There you go! Now, you should have a key message, audience, and delivery method in mind. Next step: building your platform.
Building Your Platform
Platforms can occur through so many formats, but we’re focusing on social media, blogs, and websites half because that’s my area of expertise, and half because my hands hurt.
For social media, you want to first decide if you’ll use your personal accounts, or if you want to create advocacy-specific ones.
I personally have an advocacy-specific social media platform where I post my own infographics, affirmations, etc and repost to my personal account when I feel like it’s a good fit.
However, if you want to do more general advocacy not entirely related to your lived experience, advocacy-specific accounts can be a great fit!
You’ll also want to decide if you’ll focus on one social media platform or several, and how you’ll customize content for each one. For example, the content you post on Instagram probably won’t fit on Twitter.
Decide which platform aligns best with your message and audience, consider what features align with what you want to do, and don’t be afraid to change this strategy as you grow!
Next up is the beloved blog: if you specifically want to publish blogs, you really don’t need to make your own website! Host sites like The Mighty and Substack allow you to publish your work for free, and you can even submit op-eds to your local student or city paper!
If you do want a space entirely for your own work, consider free versions of sites like WordPress of Wix – and consider the default templates. (Again. Custom websites are a nightmare. Help me.)
While free version websites don’t show up in search engines, social media is a fantastic, free way to get the word out and directly link to your work.
And finally, we have websites. If you want to offer multiple services, share upcoming or past speaking engagements, and/or publish blogs, it might be worth considering going for a website.
Websites, when you give them enough effort, can be customized to reflect what you offer! For example, my site features a home page, about section, services, and the blog – pretty much sums me up, right?
There are a ton of free resources available on creating and maintaining your website, making it more accessible, and boosting its standing in search results – check those out! Because I am not an expert!
Booking Gigs
For some reason, people see public speaking as a very glamorous, easy gig. While I will not lie, it’s pretty sick travelling for work and meeting new people – it is not easy, and it is a lot of work!
With this in mind, if you want to pursue public speaking because you feel it best suits your message and audience:
First, to book a gig you got to find a gig. Decide if you’ll apply for gigs (often at formal conferences), or if you’ll advertise your services to help clients find you.
Unfortunate behind the scenes fact: the majority of public speaking gigs are not advertised! Speakers are often found from their past engagements, websites, online searches, and informal personal networks – which is why it’s so important to have a platform to promote your work!
If a panel organizer contacts you, they’ll most likely just need your headshot and bio (resources on that at the end of this blog) and will have a set honorarium in mind.
Keynotes and workshops are a bit trickier: once contacted by the organizer, you’ll often have an initial meeting to discuss the event format, audience, conference, etc.
From there, they’ll often request a presentation proposal and quote. This is a big topic, so I just dropped a whole template under the Resources section.
Once your proposal and quote is approved, the client should outline timelines they expect content to be delivered by – I always try to beat these by at least a week to both create a buffer in case my disabilities act up, and to over deliver on expectations.
If you are having a hard time hitting your timelines, make sure to communicate this with your client ASAP, along with a reasonable explanation (but nothing too in depth), and a proposed new timeline.
After your panel, presentation, or workshop, make sure to send a thank you email or letter to your client – this is a great chance to share how this opportunities impacted you, any key takeaways you had, or what you hope to see from your client in the future! This is also a great chance to remind them of any other services you offer, to connect them to additional resources, or to ask for honest feedback or testimonies for your website!
Congratulations! You wrapped your first gig! Now, record how much money you made so you can report it on taxes. Then, onto the next!
Things to Keep In Mind
Like ourselves and like the disability community, your advocacy journey is always going to be growing and evolving. While I can’t cover every potential issue or shift, here’s three things I try to always keep in mind.
One: Always give credit where credit is due!
When I say “the disability community is the only marginalized group you can join at any time,” I credit Imani Barbarin. When I reference the cycle of inaccessibility, I always reference @Pacing.Pixie.
Other advocates will (or at least should) inspire your work – so own up to that and give them credit! And of course, a word of caution: while you can reference a quote or a concept, don’t go stealing their content!
Two: Always Keep Learning
While advocates often speak from lived experience, no one exists in a bubble!
Which is why it’s so important to learn as much as you can about disability history, the disability rights movement, the work done by disability organizations, relevant disability legislation, different disability experiences, you get it.
Disability is also a constantly evolving concept, and as both an advocate and representative of the community, you need to do your best to keep up.
Three: Take Responsibility
As advocates, we often bring new ideas, concepts, and perspectives to new audiences – and we can even be someone’s first exposure to disability!
While this can be an exciting opportunitiy, it’s also a lot of responsibility that we need to take seriously.
It’s important to recognize your privilege, anticipate potential misunderstandings, and clarify that you as a disabled person do not represent every single disabled person on earth.
Opportunities
More than ever, people want to hear from disabled youth on their lived experience, but are having trouble finding them. And, more disabled youth than ever want to get into advocacy work! The only issue is that we’re having a hard time connecting these two groups.
So, I am so excited to launch my Youth Disability Advocate Directory! This Directory will be hosted on CarlyFoxDisabilityAdvocacy.ca, and will feature disabled youth wanting to get more involved in advocacy work.
Any disabled, neurodivergent, chronically ill, d/Deaf youth interested in joining the directory can fill out this hyperlinked form here. Once I have your headshot, bio, contact info, and some other details, you’ll join the directory where organizations can reach out to you directly!
I’m also very hyped to announce that I’m now accepting guest blogs from disabled+ youth!
With more disabled youth wanting to share their lived experience, opinions, and perspectives than ever, I figured I could save us all some time building and paying for custom websites by hosting them here! (Again, never make a custom website. I am haunted.)
If you’re interested in sharing a blog, please fill out this hyperlinked form here!
Resources
Bios
Summarizing your life, experience, and values in 3-5 sentences is kinda a nightmare. I think we all feel that way. Start by reading a few bios from your favourite advocates and public speakers to get a feel for wording and tone (just, you know, don’t steal them please), then give these prompts a try:
- Introduce yourself: include your full name, pronouns (if comfortable), lived experience, and main occupation (most likely a disability advocate here!)
- Share your message: expand on your lived experience and share your key message and main goals of your advocacy work
- Reference past work: Share relevant roles you’ve held at organizations, or past speaking engagements.
- Link to more info: Share your social media handles, website or blog, or links to any relevant work you want to highlight.
Headshots
While many people assume “headshots” means professional headshots taken by a photographer, you can also take your own at home at no cost!
There are a ton of headshot types out there that reflect the work we do and the people we are, but they generally boil down to two types: professional and personal. Professional headshots generally feature you in your favourite business attire in front of a plain background, while personal headshots give audiences a better idea of your personality and work!
Regardless of the vibe you’re going for, here’s some tips:
Look how you normally look! If you don’t wear makeup, don’t wear makeup. If you don’t dress up in suits in business settings, don’t do it now!
Find the right lighting!
Find a spot where you are facing a natural bright light source, and ensure there are no shadows.
If natural lighting is in short supply, play around with the lighting and lamps you have – just make sure the light in bright and white or warm (aka no sunset/special effect lamps.)
Fit the frame!
As a social media manager, if I receive one more headshot where the top of the head is cropped off I am going to scream. Same with selfies. Those kinds of photos are great, just not for headshots.
Take a few headshots from the shoulders up, with a few inches between the top of your head and the end of the photo. This is especially helpful if the client wants to use cut-out graphics in their promotions.
You can also take additional headshots featuring you sitting in your favourite chair, going for a walk, or working at your computer. These help the audience see what you love to do!
Remember these aren’t modelling headshots – if someone is asking for a profile and full-body shot, run. Also give me their info so we can collectively blacklist them.
Limit distractions!
If your vibe is maximalist, eccentric, eclectic, etc – feel free to own that! However, if that is not your vibe – aim to limit distractions.
Limit environmental distractions by picking a blank, solid background, or using settings that focus on your face and slightly (slightly!!!) blur the background
Limit attire distractions by focusing on one accent piece – this can be fun earrings, a necklace, a headband, a tie, you name it – but layering a chunky necklace with dangly earrings and a big hat will distract from your face and your vibe.
(I feel like a mean magazine geared towards middle aged women, I am so sorry. Just stay true to you and don’t try to overcompensate!)
Provide options!
As both a public speaker and someone who promotes events for a living, I make sure to provide options when submitting headshots. I like to provide one inside headshot and one outdoors headshot, with one shoulders-up option and one in-action option. (Try to limit it to three headshots max!)
It’s also a great touch to include headshot alt text. For clients who are new to accessibility, this is a fun learning opportunity for them. For clients who normally use alt text, this relieves their communications person of having to describe you – which can be super awkward, I will not lie!
But for the love of god – do not send in black and white headshots. You can certainly offer a black and white option, but more often than not your client does not want a black and white option.
You are not a mime. Unless you are, then go for it.
I will say that once you are making steady income from advocacy gigs (we are manifesting,) it is definitely worth investing in professional photos. Like any business, we have expenses and can reinvest our profits to promote future opportunities! (There’s the pyramid scheme again…)
Proposals
- Title of Presentation: Come up with something short and catchy that reflects what audiences can expect from your presentation
- About the Presentation: Include information on the length of the presentation, the format of delivery (in-person vs online, slides vs no slides), the main topic you want to explore, learning objectives, and intended outcomes.
- Presentation Outline: Use bullet points to indicate the main sections of your presentation, and how each section breaks down. Including the estimated time of each section also helps give your client an idea of what concepts will be emphasized most.
- Speaker Bio: Including your biography at the end of a proposal is a super helpful and considerate way to ensure your client has all the information they need in one place, and that, if the proposal is circulated internally, all decision makers have all the information they need.
Quotes
If you’re asked to prepare a quote, don’t be afraid to ask your client about the relevant information needed to create an estimate reflective of what you’re expected to deliver! This saves everyone time, and ensures both you and the client are getting what you need out of this experience.
It’s also super helpful to ask about the budget they’re working with specifically for this event, the budget of past events similar to this, and the average amount paid to past speakers. You can fit these questions in when asking about past events sponsored by the client, including what topics have been discussed and who has spoken previously!
Before you check out some potential examples of what you can include in a quote, just remember that every advocate and opportunity is different – quotes are customized for a reason!
Hourly Labour Rate x Hours Needed: First, determine how many hours you will need to work to create and rehearse the requested content. Then, determine your hourly labour rate based on your past experience, comparable wages at other engagements, and market averages (which you can find on linkedin, glassdoor, or by talking to other advocates!)
Audience Charge: The audience charge is based on the number of attendees, how long the content will be available for, and if the audience is closed or public.
Organizational Charge: The organizational charge aims to reflect the context you’re expected to work in. For example, I charge more for private companies with little experience around disability inclusion compared to community organizations working in the EDI field, as I know there will be more risk for difficult and uncomfortable situations.
Travel Charge: If you’re expected to travel for an engagement, the client should cover travel and accommodations if necessary. Decide with them if this should be booked by you and reflected in the total quote, booked by you and reimbursed separately, or booked for you by the client and excluded from the quote. You can also charge an hourly travel rate, as this is mandatory time allotted towards the presentation of a product!
Social Media Fee: If your client plans to use your content, image, or name in social media, adding a social media fee can capture any risks related to giving up control over complete ownership, and to associating with external organizations.
Video Content Fee: If your content, image, or name is being used to create additional content, or if your content is being published online for public access, this fee captures the benefits captured by the client, and your opportunity cost.
In-Person Presentation Fee: In-person environments offer unique benefits, but also offer risks – especially for immunosuppressed people, women, and visual minorities. It can also worsen physical and mental conditions – don’t be afraid to include these factors in the quote!
Emotional Labour Fee: This is honestly my best received fee! While labour rates, audience/organization charges, and additional fees may capture the required labour for this engagement, it often does not capture the emotional labour we put into work inherently connected to our personal identities. So, the emotional labour fee essentially adds a premium to traditional public speaking fees given our lived experience.