Interview with Emily Purry, Founder, CEO, Purry Consultants, United States

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PART 1 and PART 2 – This podcast is full of Accessibily insights, so don’t miss the transformational inspiration!

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CONVERSATION HIGHLIGHTS:

In this episode of the You Me We Amplified podcast, host Suzanne F. Stevens introduces Emily Purry, the force behind Purry Consulting. Emily, legally blind and an advocate for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA), shares her journey and insights on integrating disability practices into businesses. The discussion covers various aspects of DEIA, including digital accessibility, disability strategies, and the importance of inclusive environments. Emily also highlights the profound benefits of hiring individuals with disabilities and the significant gap in disability awareness within organizations. Additionally, the episode touches on the challenges and progress in disability advocacy, emphasizing the need for continuous education and systemic changes to foster true inclusion.

00:00 Introduction to the YouMeWe Amplified Podcast

00:05 Meet Emily Purry: A Journey of Resilience and Advocacy

03:03 Emily’s Personal and Professional Background

03:59 Challenges and Triumphs in the Workplace

08:26 Emily’s Athletic Pursuits and Overcoming Obstacles

10:24 Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)

29:02 The Importance of Inclusive Practices in Organizations

40:22 The Power of Kindness and Curiosity

42:00 Impact of the Pandemic on Disability Employment

44:34 Loyalty and Work Ethic of Employees with Disabilities

47:18 Challenges and Innovations in Accessibility

53:22 Understanding Autism and Social Expectations

59:06 The Journey of Starting a Nonprofit

01:07:27 Lightning Round: Quick Insights and Advice

01:14:35 Final Thoughts and Words of Wisdom

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Interview with Emily Purry, Founder, CEO, Purry Consultants; United States

Emily Purry has a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in business management and is a certified drug and alcohol counselor. She delivers presentations and training on disability topics relevant to today's business environment. Each presentation aims to educate companies and organizations about disability in a positive and productive way. Legally blind herself, and the parent of a child with autism, she brings her personal and professional experiences to help move companies forward. Emily is raising three biracial children within an extended family that is inclusive of many diverse identities. Emily specializes in topics including accessibility, intersectionality, technology, and the world of ADA.

United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal(s) addressed:
#3. Good Health and Well-being, #5. Gender Equality, #8. Decent Work and Economic Growth, #16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

Social impact:
Emily Purry's social impact is evident in her dedication to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within corporate environments. As a keynote speaker, trainer, and consultant, she advocates for accessibility and disability awareness, fostering more welcoming and inclusive spaces. Emily facilitates meaningful conversations through her Engaged Inclusion series and promotes best practices for thriving teamwork. Leveraging her experiences as a legally blind athlete and a parent of a child with autism, she inspires positive change and encourages businesses to embrace diverse identities. Emily's efforts contribute to creating a more equitable and inclusive society.

Website: https://purryco.com/

Recources:

March 2, 2024, 7:00 AM EST By Char Adams and Nigel Chiwaya

According to an NBC News analysis, Republican lawmakers in more than 30 states have introduced or passed more than 100 bills to restrict or regulate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the current legislative session.

https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/anti-dei-bills-states-republican-lawmakers-map-rcna140756

Critics say DEI programs are discriminatory and attempt to solve racial discrimination by disadvantaging other groups, particularly White Americans. But supporters and industry experts insist the decades-old practice has been politicized and is widely misunderstood.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/09/us/what-is-dei-and-why-its-dividing-america/index.html

Emily Purry, Founder, Purry Consulting,United States

Note: This conversation is transcribed using AI software, which means the transcription is not perfect. Watch the video or listen to the podcast to hear our guest’s wisdom in her own words. If you want to see more interviews like this, please comment below!

To read about Changemaker International, check out Suzanne’s book Make Your Contribution Count for You, me, and we. 

Visit bio for resources. 

Welcome to another episode of the YouMeWe Amplified Podcast! Today, I have the immense pleasure of introducing Emily Purry, the incredible force behind Purry Consulting. Emily’s social impact journey is a testament to her unwavering dedication to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) within corporate environments. But that’s just the beginning.

Imagine being legally blind and still having the tenacity to excel as an athlete from a young age, carrying that spirit through to becoming a surfer. For Emily, obstacles aren’t roadblocks; they’re opportunities to break through.

In this episode, Emily shares her profound insights on how to integrate disability practices into your business, benefiting both your team and your customers. We dive deep into disability strategies, covering everything from inclusive language and practices to implementing strategic disability initiatives.

We’ll also discuss the compelling business case for incorporating these practices. One of the most powerful moments of our conversation gave me shivers: “When we design for people with disabilities, we design a better world for everyone.”

We’ll touch on the autism community and how digital practices can make a world of difference. And, a if you catch my “blatent blunder,” I’ll email you my ebook – make your contribution count for you, me, we. -Just reach out at we@youmewe.ca with the “blunder”

Tune in and get ready to be inspired by Emily Purry’s remarkable journey and invaluable insights. Let’s learn how we can create more inclusive and empowering environments for all.

Intro video

[00:00:25] Suzanne F Stevens: Welcome to YouMeWe Amplified Podcast, where we have conversations with sheIMPACTpreneur .cshe and PACpreneurs addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. These entrepreneurs are transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions. Matter of fact, I’m even wearing my Sustainable Development Goal pin today, so I’m expecting a lot from this interview.

Hello, I’m Suzanne F. Stevens, an international speaker, author, a sheIMPACTpreneur community builder, and a multi-award winning IMPACTpreneur, and your host for YouMeWe Amplified podcast. Today, we’re having a conversation with Emily Purry. Founder of Purry Consulting. As a certified drug and alcohol counselor and with a degree in psychology.

She is also a keynote speaker, trainer, and consultant. Emily specializes in diversity, equity, and inclusion. But her specialty And this is what really drew me to her is she’s an advocate for accessibility and disability awareness, fostering more welcoming and inclusive spaces. Emily brings a unique perspective as a person who is legally blind and an athlete.

She’s a parent of a child with autism and a mother raising three biracial children from Oregon, United States. Please welcome Emily. So great to see you and chat with you today, Emily.

[00:01:53] Emily Purry: Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:01:56] Suzanne F Stevens: Now, this may almost be an obvious question based on being a person with disability, having a child with autism and having children that are biracial. And I think it’s an important question. What is the catalyst for you to start pre consulting and more specifically to focus on disabilities?

[00:02:23] Emily Purry: Absolutely. It’s a funny story. I, as a child, told a lot of people, and it’s a little embarrassing now, that I was never going to be the blind person advocating for people with disabilities. And I still, to this day, don’t know why that is. However, in my mid thirties, I think, I found myself trying to get a job and trying to change career fields. And at that point I had the experience, I had my master’s degree in business development and organizational leadership, and I could not get hired, to save my life. I was so frustrated. I was so anxious about Having to make these shifts. And no, I’m not the 100 percent perfect candidate for every job I interviewed for, but I interviewed for multiple dozens of positions. And I would get through the phone interviews. I would get through the resume screenings. I would get through everything. And then when I came in the room and I didn’t meet social expectations of, for example, making eye contact all the time, et cetera, people, I feel got weary, didn’t understand. or I would have to ask for them to read the questions in the interview.

It serves a lot of things that had not evolved to the point where I couldn’t participate. And so I ended up having to start at the very bottom of an organization and in order to make that shift, a career shift. And if I was, more part of dominant culture, I feel that I would have been hired much sooner, especially with my master’s degree, with plenty of experience and meeting all minimum qualifications. And so I didn’t want anybody else to experience that.So that’s the disability piece. Then with my family, my extended family being very diverse as racial, ethnicity, as well as sexual orientation, et cetera, I saw how they lived their experiences and the discrimination and the challenges and the barriers they faced.

And so that’s what really pushed me in. My personal experience with disability and my daughter’s experience and then my family’s experiences really pushed me in this direction. So that’s where I felt very pulled and attracted to, for sure.

[00:04:41] Suzanne F Stevens: It is an interesting story, particularly you were sort of stonewalled out of the working environment. And it’s funny because I recently interviewed, an immigrant to Canada, which by the way, I am Canadian, which I don’t think you know.

[00:04:55] squadcaster-fbi8_1_04-04-2024_105316: and she, same sort of thing. She could, again, master’s degree, could not get a job.

[00:05:04] Suzanne F Stevens: When you’re saying as a kid that you did not want be the blind person talking about disability.I protest too much because I see that when I decided when I was traveling through, Kenya, I said, I did not want to train people because I do it all the time.

And I decided I didn’t want to do that. Well, sure enough, I ended up training people and doing that transformed me down a whole new trajectory in my career. This podcast would not exist if I didn’t do that training.I love that you were smarter. You said it when you were a kid. I said it when I was in my 40s. So,it’s interesting how the world conspires, to get us down the right path.

 When were you legally blind?

So I’ve been legally blind since I was a kiddo. I was born with it. I have juvenile macular degeneration, Stargardt’s disease. So that’s a progressive eye disease and my central vision is slowly deteriorating. So there’s a hole in the middle and it’s just getting bigger as I get older. So yeah, since I was a child a lot of people hear of macular degeneration in their grandparents. Because there’s an age related macular degeneration, but I have juvenile, as well as my brother does also. Now, it says in your bio that you were, are, or were an athlete. Share with us about that. (may delete)

[00:06:32] Emily Purry: Yeah, I’ve always been an athlete. That has been my identity since I was a very small kiddo. running out on the soccer field of my older brother when I was about three, trying to play the game with him. That’s where it all started. But I was a soccer, track, basketball all through high school, and then in college I was track, javelin thrower, as well as soccer. Until my junior year and then I definitely had a forfeit. My vision was getting to be too bad. I couldn’t, I could see the ball and this is hard for people to understand, but I couldn’t track, I couldn’t get my foot behind it where it needed to be. I couldn’t get my head under it, wherever it was. So it was getting more and more difficult.But I did throw a javelin all four years, and then now I am a blind surfer. So I try to get down to California or Costa Rica or anywhere I can. I’m trying to brave the Oregon coast, the war, the really cold water, to surf. And so that’s where I am in my athletic journey right now.

[00:07:32] Suzanne F Stevens: Yeah, I tried surfing, when I lived in Australia and I have two fairly good eyes and no, not, no. Could not get up, but it was fun trying. So

[00:07:46] Emily Purry: most, and that’s a piece that I didn’t expect, when I first went to Costa Rica to try surfing. It is the freedom and the independence that I felt, because a lot of the stuff I previously did as an athlete, I couldn’t, I can’t do anymore. I can’t play soccer to the extent I want to.

I, could throw a javelin, I just haven’t, but surfing gave me that challenge and that independence to, once I get on that wave, it’s just me and the wave and I don’t have to think about anything else other than, like you said, staying up and balancing and everything. There’s no way to think about anything else in the world when you’re on those waves.

So that’s what I love about it.

[00:08:21] Suzanne F Stevens: What does your personal experience bring to the conversation of diversity, equity, and inclusion?

[00:08:29] Emily Purry: Well, one of the big things I have advocated for and really made an effort to include is diversity, equity, and inclusion has typically included race, ethnicity, LGBTQIA. And that’s really mostly it. Some gender, but that’s pretty much it. I’m going to say quote unquote normal to here at this point. Not equitable yet. But disability is often not included in that bucket. And though it’s not the same, though, all of these buckets, if you will, are very important and need advocacy and need equity. The disability community has not been included in that. And so it’s often not talked about.

And it’s mostly because of fear of being sued because of the ADA, the Americans with Disabilities Act. there’s a lot of fear. There’s a lot of discomfort. There’s a lot of, misunderstanding, stigma, et cetera, around disability and how do we talk about it. And so I, as if you know me or get to know me, I’m pretty frank.

I’m very real. But in a very kind, approachable way. And so I bring my lived experience as a person with a disability to the training room or the stage, and really hope to draw people into that conversation and not be afraid of it, but learn to do it in a respectful way. And so that’s really what, my lived experience and who I am, has brought to the DEIA, I say DEIA conversation, including access in that conversation.

So I think that’s where I focus and I hope to draw people in instead of turn people away from all of the conversations. They’re all very important.

[00:10:10] Suzanne F Stevens: I love the A. It definitely should be there.

[00:10:12] squadcaster-fbi8_1_04-04-2024_105316: Yeah.

[00:10:13] Track 1: And it’s interesting, I often talk about D E I B, which is belonging. And, but. The A should be there. And it’s interesting. I often think about diversity, equity and inclusion and access and I often find to your point about the racial, cultural, religious perspective, I often find women are taken out of that conversation as well.

[00:10:41] Suzanne F Stevens: And yet, with all due respect, we’re still not equitable. and that’s where people are almost tired about. This is what organizations are saying, and this conversation of, yes, during pandemic, everyone was talking about diversity, equity and inclusion. I’ll just to that point.

And yet everyone started moving towards it. And some people are bailing on

[00:11:06] Emily Purry: Oh, absolutely.

[00:11:07] Suzanne F Stevens: Is that, you find that to be true as well, that it was, yes, it’s the thing to do, but boy, it’s a lot of frigging work.

[00:11:16] Emily Purry: creative work. And the other piece is, if it’s not trendy, it’s often not being done. So when the murder of George Floyd happened, this huge trend of diversity, equity, and inclusion went up and people were, I’m going to be, a little cynical and say, checking the box of I, we are diverse. We are putting out diversity statements.

We are in support of X, Y, and Z. And so that was a trendy thing to do. And now it’s on the decline again, and it’s still equally as important, but this is what we see in history. Diversity, equity, and inclusion is important regardless of the trend of it. And that’s where, You know, a lot of practitioners have bailed out because of the lack of business, in this downturn again, and then we’re just waiting for it to come back up. But it’s really important to continue to do this work or these systems will never change.

 (this is something I need to lookinto)

[00:12:08] Emily Purry: We are at a downward trend right now. There are states outlawing, diversity, inclusion, and access conversations within government structures, which is. Absolutely devastating, that state employees can’t learn about diversity and inclusion when the states are serving the most vulnerable, unrepresented communities. so it’s hard, it’s a hard, it’s hard work and it costs money and it’s usually the first thing to go when budget cuts come.

[00:12:36] Suzanne F Stevens: yeah. And training of any sort goes pretty close after that, unless you’re in the business of helping people win business, which is why my company, I always had business because I trained sales teams, but now that I’m in the social impact and conscious leadership space, again, like yourself, is the thing that goes. There’s something, extremely important and makes me extremely angry just said, and it is, as I said, at the beginning of this, knowing that I am Canadian, but I am fairly well versed in a lot of Canadians are in American politics that it is election year.

And the stuff going on in many States is, it breaks my heart beyond comprehension and send me the mail on it. I don’t care. equal rights for women. The fact though that they’re taking diversity, equity and inclusion and access out of government breaks my heart and makes me extremely angry. That is just unacceptable,

[00:13:53] Emily Purry: And I believe there’s now seven States that have made it a law that State employees cannot learn about diversity, equity, inclusion. (I recommend you do your due diligence here, as there are several articles available )  It’s outrageous. And it’s, you think about who’s employed at the state, we’re looking at disability services. We’re looking at child welfare. We’re looking at, food services. We’re housing services. Like so many of the things and the people that are involved in these and engage with these systems are now the people serving them are not allowed to learn about their experience, not allowed to learn about how to treat somebody equitably. It just makes absolutely no sense to me. Absolutely no sense.

[00:14:32] Suzanne F Stevens: Which sort of brings up something in our pre call that came out that I was very intrigued with, and it fits here, is you were mentioning that you focus on the disability side of things, now you will speak overarchingly about diversity, equity, inclusion. However, when you, are working with an organization and they really want to focus perhaps on the black community or, Muslims or, the Jewish community or,Or the Asian community, or the Mexican community, that your strategy is to bring somebody else in for the micro conversation.

[00:15:22] Emily Purry: Absolutely. Yeah.

I am very about it. I will do the high level, which means why it’s good to be nice to people who don’t look like us, act like us, believe like us, move like us, all of the differences and introducing those topics of microaggressions and intersectionality. So the introductory conversations, I will have. And the reason I have decided as a white woman to take that on is because a lot of the, more ignorant, not in a bad way, but out of lack of knowledge, a lack of education, ignorant statements that can be very hurtful to one of those communities happens in those introductory 101 classes. Now, if we can build that foundation and then people who really are passionate and really want to learn and who are open to learning want to further their education, that’s when we bring somebody with lived experience in. I’m very passionate about making sure that people who live the experience are paid for that experience and not, A, asked to do it for free or me as a white woman. Try to teach about how it is to be black. I can’t do that. so that’s when I come in as a specialty in disability, I have contractors that work in all the other facets, race, ethnicity, LGBTQIA multigenerational workplace, the veterans experience. We also talk about a lot inside the workplace, disability, and then we have intersectionality. And so those are the buckets that I really cover under my company. But it is, it’s a passion of mine to have that person speaking from lived experience. I can’t mimic that experience and I’m not going to try. That’s very disrespectful. So

[00:17:09] Suzanne F Stevens: Yeah, and I agree with that. But being the devil’s advocate, if you will,

[00:17:14] Emily Purry: yeah, absolutely.

[00:17:15] Suzanne F Stevens: is you as a woman and me as a woman, our experiences are still different.

[00:17:22] Emily Purry: Absolutely.

[00:17:26] Suzanne F Stevens: If you learn different races or cultures, experiences, and you, contextualize it, that this is based on research, or this is based on a conversation, and you’re just the conduit to the information.

You’re not the actual person that’s lived that experience because everybody lives an experience differently. And so I appreciate that you said that. And then I reflected on it because I was like, well, Everyone lives an experience differently. A black person that has been beaten up by a police officer, which I say that because I have a very dear friend that his whole life was transformed because of it.

And another black man who wasn’t. Beat up by an officer yes, they may both may have the fear of being pulled over by an officer, but their experience Is very different from that, if you will. So I just, I do find it interesting that’s your strategy. I respect that’s your strategy, but it’s a tough one because it’s a that person’s perspective based on

 as you say, they’re lived experience, but somebody else’s lived experience could be different. And there’s, I guess, I guess there’s some common denominators that we’re aware of. And I actually just gave a good example of one that black man pulled overis nervous.

[00:18:58] Emily Purry: I think that’s the piece where we say, what are we teaching? Are we teaching about violence, in the black community or are we teaching about racial equity inside the workplace? And I think this is a really valuable place also to team up with folks. You’ve talked about a lot of your experiences in Africa as a white woman, you have a lot more knowledge and education than some people who’ve never been to Africa. And so if you’re able to team up with somebody and say, these are two perspectives of, no, I am a white woman and I have, spent a significant amount of time in a predominantly black culture. Versus this person who lives in America, and we have to, also designate between those and a black American versus an African American, what are we talking about?

What experience are we trying to give to the stage or the speak, the training room? It just depends. But teaming up and offering both those perspectives is also Incredibly valuable. And so really looking at the content and the outcome that you’re desiring is important. And, similarly in my situation as a legally blind, I still have some remaining sight and it is progressing.

But for me to say that I understand what it’s like to be completely blind is absolutely inaccurate. And so my experience as a visually impaired person versus completely blind person. Is also different. And so if that was the outcome you’re desiring to understand the perspective of a completely blind person, I would then bring that in and probably co teach with somebody who is completely blind.

And just look at the outcomes and make sure that you are, you tailoring your knowledge and your education and that delivery to the audience. That’s obviously important as well.

[00:20:44] Track 1: Yeah, no, excellent point. As a matter of fact, I’m trying to think of the author that partnered with a black woman. She was a white woman and partnered with a black woman. And I should know the author. I’ve read 10 of her books and because she was writing about a black woman and didn’t feel that she could do it in the

[00:21:02] squadcaster-fbi8_1_04-04-2024_105316: Oh, yeah.

[00:21:03] Track 1: Brilliant. But, and just to be clear, and I, not that I’m defensive about it. I don’t. I know my experience in the 19 African countries I’ve been to, and my book is from their words, not mine. So I’m very cautious of speaking for, because that would defeat the purpose,

[00:21:24] squadcaster-fbi8_1_04-04-2024_105316: yes. Absolutely.

[00:21:25] Track 1: so I, I appreciate that as the example, but I quote what has been said to me and I have on video.

Absolutely. And I was

[00:21:33] Emily Purry: Putting it context, like, if were to the class, I think you have valuable experience that somebody who’s never been to Africa couldn’t offer.

[00:21:42] Suzanne F Stevens: Before we go any further, there has been a lot of discussion of what to call people with disabilities. And when using the group reference, what is your guidance?

Cause I’ve had a lot of different guidance on this. So I’d be curious what your guidance would be in regards to the group of people with disabilities.

[00:22:07] Emily Purry: (this is a good quote) Absolutely. I am still in default mode to people with disabilities. Yes. Absolutely. That’s what I typically refer to people as, or the group. There is that big shift. that shift has happened where most groups, and I’m again, this depends on the person and the group, but most groups have switched to identity first language.

So the autism community made that shift, really initiated that shift to say, we are autistic. We are not people who are experienced autism. We are not people who, trying to sugar coat it, if you will. They’re like, we are autistic people. That’s that. And so they really started this, initiative to identity first language. Now it’s very acceptable to go either way on this. This piece of person first, meaning people with disabilities. Or you could say the disabled community, and it’s no longer, seen as seeing the person only for their disability. Instead, it’s empowering people to say, yes, I am disabled, and that’s no different than your experience as a fill in the blank.. Your experience is just another human difference. My eyes are blue, your eyes are brown, I have a disability, you don’t. And it’s really, I like the fact that we’re trying to normalize that conversation of differences versus othering and saying like, we need to sugarcoat it, make it sound sweet and nice that these poor people, like, no, it’s, I am disabled, I am a blind individual. Moving on. It’s part of me. I live it every day. And either way is still acceptable. If you say people with disabilities, that’s fine. there are other language pieces like saying the blind and like labeling. We’re just people, everyone. We might be blind, we might not. I would say we have shifted to identity first language. And somebody may correct you, and I think that’s the big thing. If somebody does correct you, if you come up and say, I don’t know, somehow, blind woman, and I say I would prefer to be called a woman with a vision disability, then you just note that. Everybody’s individual preferences for everything on this planet is different, and I think that’s what we have to remember in this equity work, is somebody might correct you, and that’s okay, but You didn’t screw up unless it’s, very intentional and hurtful, then that’s different.

But if it’s one of those things and they say, Hey, I actually prefer to be called this, then you say, okay, make that note in my head. And I’m going to say that from now on when I’m around Emily.

And so I think it’s, those human preferences.

[00:24:47] Suzanne F Stevens: Great advice. That sort of consciousness, whatever you want to be called, let me know kind of thing. Now, you bring up something that this shift, and I’ve seen the shift as well. And does that shift make a difference on if you’re the person that’s disabled or not?

So I would say people with disabilities, that’s, the way I’ve been taught. And yet I do know a disabled person would say, Hey, I’m disabled. I’m owning it. Okay. You can own it because you’re disabled. I am not. So I’m wondering is, are both ways of saying acceptable, or is it just acceptable for the person that’s disabled?

[00:25:40] Emily Purry: I think both ways are accessible at this point. We have seen many, like the City of Portland put out a great report about this is what we should be saying. This is what we should be doing. And I think like what you said, I have been taught to say people with disabilities, Because person first language was the kind of go to for probably the last 10 years.

We didn’t want to put that identity first regardless of what identity we were thinking or talking about. And so we were really trying to acknowledge the person first And so i’ve been taught for the last 10 years person first. So I think it really depends on how we are how we’ve learned and howI accepting we are of new language or sensitive, and not in a bad way sensitive.

Like if something really bothers me the way somebody says something, obviously I’m going to shift that and let people know.But I don’t think it matters for non disabled to say the disabled community. Especially since we’re in that period of educating people that is okay. The words that we don’t use are handicapped.

We don’t use retarded. We don’t use slow. We don’t use those kind of terms. But the educational piece ofidentity first is just really hitting, hitting, especially the workplace that this is acceptable and it is okay and it’s not a bad thing.

[00:27:00] Suzanne F Stevens: So because there are so many different disabilities and different treatments and inclusive solutions for a variety of disabilities, how do you address the consortium of issues when working with your business clients? Like, could you give us three common pieces of advice that you would give to a client?

[00:27:20] Emily Purry: I think the first thing is I work with a lot of companies in developing their initial best practices. So establishing your best practices that you are going to start doing no matter what. No matter who’s internal to your group. And maybe looking at what are the most common disabilities that interact either on the customer or on the side of employees.

There’s two sides I look at with customers. And so we want to look at, are there groups that you more often interact with than others? Okay. So let’s first identify those. And then we’ve developed best practices. What are the five things that are fairly easy for you to implement right off the bat, because making those little steps and those little changes to your workplace internally, we’ll start bringing awareness to other things that you might be able to change. And it might take more time. It might take more,funding or finances. And so you can build that plan based on that. And so it’s really developing those core, best practices that become part of your daily, processes, your procedures. And then from there, building it out and looking at your environments, especially your digital environment. This is a big piece right now. There are people, unfortunately, and fortunately, it’s one of those, ugh, it gives me the heebie jeebies, but going around to websites and seeing if they’re accessible and if they’re not, they’re suing people. And I hate that fear based, approach. And it is creating change. So it’s this both side of the coin thing. It’s like, I don’t want to scare people into becoming accessible by suing them because that’s creating more fear than, a positive experience and digital spaces are becoming more accessible because of it. Then looking at your physical spaces, if you haven’t already and making sure that those are accessible.

And then from there really looking, into your workforce and are the numbers there? Do you have people with disabilities working for you? Do you have customers with disabilities? If not, why? And a lot of companies I work with say, well, we don’t, we aren’t accessible to this because we don’t have any employees like that. Well, I’m sure there are people with disabilities that want to work for you. And maybe there are barriers to that. Maybe there’s a culture inside your organization that is not welcoming to people with disabilities. And so looking at that.Quarter of the US identifies as having a disability. And so if you don’t have them inside of your organization, there’s a reason most likely. And so then looking that further down that road of why not. And so then that will come up with more solutions and more things to focus on for sure.

[00:30:01] Suzanne F Stevens: So getting to a little more specific so that people do something with it. How are the people finding out if people have disabilities? Is that a survey of some sort? How do you find that information out?

And, if you’re a customer, the challenge is getting that divulged, that I have a disability. None of your business. So I’m just curious how that is being done or how you would recommend doing that?

[00:30:27] Emily Purry: Absolutely. So I do work with companies and organization and do employee surveys. I know a lot of people on this podcast are small businesses. and that can be challenging because of the, the anonymousness of it. They want this information to be anonymous. And when we’re doing these employee surveys, a lot of times, especially on the bigger companies, they aren’t asking, they might ask, do you have a disability, yes or no, and that’s a might ask.and it’s an optional question, just like race, ethnicity, LGBTQIA is optional, but there’s no further information. And so when I work with companies on employee surveys, I dig into that because the more information we can get from that, the more, the better we can make the environment.

So if you are very good at accommodating for the deaf and hard of hearing, but the experience of somebody on the autism spectrum, is horrible. We’re going to be able to pick that apart and cross reference it with race and ethnicity. We’re going to be able to, pick it apart and make it really tangible for you as an organization and say, wow, we have really missed the boat on this and we’re doing great on this.

So it’s not just finding out what we’re bad at. So employee surveys, and customer surveys, we do customer service as well to make sure that people are being serviced in the way they want to be. And those ones are much shorter than the employee surveys. But it’s finding out, do you have a disability? Do you have a family member with a disability? People with disabilities and their loved ones have buying power of 8 trillion dollars. Because if I am discriminated against in a restaurant or in a retail environment, I’m going to tell my friends, Hey, I went to this place and it was a horrible experience and I’m never going back there. And they’re never going back there either because they’re like, wow, that’s horrible. And so the buying power that people with disabilities and their loved ones have is significant. So if you’re not looking at that as a business owner, if you’re missing a big chunk of people and a big chunk of revenue.

[00:32:31] Suzanne F Stevens: You also mentioned about the digital aspect. Share with us, about what, organizations need to be thinking about when it comes to being inclusive in the digital world.

[00:32:45] Emily Purry: Just thinking about it. I have the, an optimistic view on humanity that the majority of the exclusion of people with disabilities is unintentional. We just need to think about it and start making those changes. And a lot of times it’s just not on people’s radar. It’s just not there. And so if we just start thinking about it as we’re building our websites, huh, I wonder if this is accessible for people with disabilities? That one thought will start triggering that thought process to be like, I wonder how we make it accessible. I wonder who makes it. Does my web developer know about it’s a digital accessibility? Does my, whoever is doing building the website, have they thought about it? And there are pretty simple things to make it decently accessible without having to hire somebody. It’s after the fact, that it may become much more difficult, when you’ve added 25, 30 pages to your website, and then we have to redo all of those because of the fact they’re not accessible.

so,

[00:33:53] Suzanne F Stevens: Do you mean like not having alt text in a picture, for example?

[00:33:57] Emily Purry: One, Alt text, making sure headers, making sure that your content can be tabbed through, in the correct order, so that it’s going across the page, down the page, etc. And a lot of that has to be set up, and you would expect that companies building websites would do that automatically. And that’s not the case. I thought when I first started doing this work that it was the companies and they’re like, okay, well we’ll talk to our IT team. So I would talk to the IT team and they were like, Oh, I don’t know anything about that. And I said, Oh crap. That means that the schools that are teaching web developers how to design websites don’t even know about this stuff or are not focusing on it. And so I just kept kicking the bucket down the hill being like, Oh my gosh, I’m not even talking to the right people. And so working with the schools to make sure the developers are getting trained in accessibility. And then so on. So yeah, alt text, tabbing through headers, all of that stuff is part of website and app accessibility is the same.

Apps are coming out faster than we can even keep track of these days. And a lot of folks are not thinking about accessibility. And we all know how much we use apps and technology to navigate this world. It becomes a big barrier.

[00:35:19] Suzanne F Stevens: I know there’s so many disabilities, but were to say what are maybe three top misses in organizations, in order to be inclusive, or at least start down that path?

[00:35:34] Emily Purry: I’m gonna say mobility. So anything with mobility. So you can think, which majority of people do, think, physical disabilities when we’re talking about disabilities. So wheelchairs, walkers, canes, that kind of stuff. Mobility. So make sure your physical environment is accessible. That’s probably one big bucket. And that doesn’t mean blowing up your building and starting over again, but looking at your cubicle spaces. I do a lot of consulting around that. Are they big enough for a person in a wheelchair to navigate if you hire a person that uses a wheelchair?And so space configurations is a big thing and that’s something we have control over. And so we want to make sure and just look at those things that you can control. That’s what I’m very passionate about is if you can do little things that help the environment, whether, whatever environment that is, that’s where I’m looking. So physical space, digital accessibility for the blind and visually impaired. And I say that not because I am blind or visually impaired, but because it’s such a barrier to functioning in this world. If you’re developing an app or a website It needs to be accessible. And that works for people who are blind, visually impaired, use screen readers, people with limited use of their hands and fingers, dexterity, because they don’t navigate a phone like some of us do, as well as people who are not, English is not their first language.

They can turn on the screen reader and have it read out to them. And so there’s multiple people when we look at digital accessibility, that could really impact. And then, I think many people would agree with me that training your staff. Most of the things we experience as people with disabilities is how we are treated in the work environment, or as a customer. Even if your digital platform is not accessible, and I come up to you and say, I can’t access this piece of equipment. Are you able to help me? And if that staff person can’t is warm and receptive and not looking at me like what’s wrong with you or why do you need help or, acting annoyed that they have to take those extra steps. That staff training is hugely important and creates such a better experience for the person on the other end. So even if don’t have anything accessible, if the staff is willing and understands that they’re probably asking a question for a reason and I don’t really need to know the answer, all I need to do in this moment is help them. It takes a huge burden off of us to be like, here we go. I have to explain why I’m at the doctor and now I can’t see this.

And so it creates a better experience. And that in itself would mean the world to a lot of us.

[00:38:28] Suzanne F Stevens: It’s such a powerful comment because just be kind, be open, be kind.who would have thought that, such a simple word would save the world, but, it really could.

[00:38:40] Emily Purry: Curiosity gets the best of us. And I think that’s one big piece of advice is you don’t have to know. Curiosity is not a reason to ask a question, especially about disability. Now if it’s applicable to the situation, like if you’re a coworker or somebody who is, you’re hopefully going to work next to, asking like, Hey Emily, how’s it best I can send you documents so it’s most accessible for you? That’s a very legitimate, respectful question that should be asked between two coworkers. Now, if it’s just like, wow, Emily, how much can you see? Not necessary. You’ll most likely find that out about me, as you get to know Emily the Human. But, that curiosity is not enough to, ask.

[00:39:23] Suzanne F Stevens: Yeah. I’m such an advocate for curiosity too, but you truly put context around it, right? Like curiosity is, be curious about people. That being said, there’s curious and nosy in none of your businesses that’s curious and helpful in progressing and assisting a person to do something and lifting them up, not pushing them

down.

[00:39:50] Emily Purry: Be curious in your education about Not around asking. Yeah, absolutely.

[00:39:56] Suzanne F Stevens: That’s good advice. Now, did you feel the pandemic provided more opportunities in the work environment for people with disabilities?

[00:40:07] Emily Purry: Yes, there was a lot of bad things that happened around COVID, that, excluded people further with disabilities, and there were a lot more opportunities. So remote work used to be something that we as a disability community asked for. And it was seen as a special privilege, and only the people with disabilities get it, and that’s not fair.

And there was a lot of hostility in the workplace around remote work or flexible work schedules. This is one of the biggest shifts that happened. It wasn’t just people with disabilities working from home. And that was great. That was probably the biggest shift that happened. The need to educate. also became really apparent especially since, the disability community is the only community anyone can join at any time. And that became very clear during the pandemic. People experienced depression for the first time, anxiety for the first time, Zoom fatigue for the first time. Where these are things that people with disabilities experience on a daily basis. Now, the good and bad side of this was people felt like they knew what it was like to have a disability then. And so it gave people a little insight to what somebody’s day to day life might look like, but then it also devalued that person’s experience because many of those people returned to quote unquote normal, not experiencing anxiety, not experiencing depression, as soon as the pandemic kind of let up. And and some people stayed in that, in the, in our community and that, that happened as well. So I think it brought a lot of awareness and a lot more awareness when we all had to shift to remote work and people were like, oh my gosh, none of our systems are accessible. None of our people can work from home because X, Y, and Z.

And so there was a lot of awareness. Okay.

[00:42:07] Suzanne F Stevens: I had the honor of conducting a panel, several panels, matter of fact, one with a group of advocates on disability, he used to own a Tim Hortons.

Now, I don’t know if you know what a Tim Hortons is. A Coffee shop in Canada. It’s like, it’s like your Starbucks.

[00:42:24] Emily Purry: Okay. Okay.

[00:42:26] Suzanne F Stevens: We have Starbucks too, but Tim Hortons is very affiliated with Canadians. And he owned several Tim Hortons and he went on to say that, hiring people with disabilities is one of the best things you can do for your business.

They work harder. They’re loyal.They stay focused, even though, sometimes some of them aren’t, they really try. Like they can be some of your best employees. Now, Tim Hortons is a very different experience and I understand why he said that they are loyal because a lot of them could not get jobs.

You focus on the business environment. So I would imagine a lot of your clients, I think, are corporate.

[00:43:11] Emily Purry: Yep.

[00:43:13] Suzanne F Stevens: Do you have any insight into people with disabilities and their loyalty, their work ethic, or any insights in regards to why people would want to consciously seek people with disabilities out to be an employee or a leader in their organization?

[00:43:33] Emily Purry: Absolutely. And it is the same that you just mentioned. in my 42 years of being employed, it is the hardest thing in the world for me to quit a job. It’s, I get a little emotional talking about it, but we are not given the opportunities that able bodied folks are to be employed. It is very challenging to have a steady employment. It’s really getting employment. and so when we get it, we want to hold on to it. And we want to show people that we are good workers. And we are loyal because we, there’s not just another job around the corner. And so we stay and we work hard. And unfortunately we work,out of the boundaries, if you will, if we have to work extra hours, we will, because we are dedicated to proving that we can do the job. NowI say this in all my trainings as well, there are lazy people with disabilities. Just like there’s lazy people in every other community. So when I say this, can you hire somebody and they will be lazy or not hit deadlines or be a bad employee? Absolutely. Because they’re still human.

We are all still human. And so you might have a bad experience with a person with disability, but I guarantee you’ve had plenty of bad experiences from able bodied folks. And so you have to keep that in mind. Not every single person on the planet, right? Is a good employee who has a disability, but we tend to be more loyal.

We tend to work harder because we’ve had to work harder for everything in our lives, all of our lives. Disability, instills a different level of grit in you because the world is not built for you. And so if you’re fighting to get a job, you want to keep it. If you have to fight to go to the grocery store every day, if you have to fight to do most things because this world is not built for you that way, it’s just another thing that you’re ready to get in there, get it done, and show yourself and others that you are worth it. And yes, I might need a larger monitor, yes, some things might take me longer, but I guarantee you I will work much harder than many able bodied folks if you hire me. And there are many of us out there that are like that. And they’re all over the, all industries.

It’s not just, coffee shops or,whatever. It’s everywhere. People are ready to work and want to work.

[00:46:16] Suzanne F Stevens: And I love that, grit, right? There’s that grit. And another concept that I’ve heard that I also loved is People that with various disabilities are also very innovative because they had to be. They have to figure out how to get to point A, point B, be it with a cane, with a dog, with, without hitting anything or without being distracted or whatever that disability is. Look to people with disabilities for innovation because they could come up with some of the best solutions because they’ve had to every single day.

[00:46:57] Emily Purry: And there’s plenty of research out there that’s saying that the innovation that people come up with themselves and that companies, if you’re looking from a universal design perspective, which is designing the workplace for everyone. It benefits everyone. And the automatic door opener is like the classic example of this.

How many able bodied folks have used the automatic door openers on the outside of buildings? Every single one of us, I guarantee it. But it was designed for a person with a disability or using a wheelchair to get in the door. But we use it for strollers. We use it for when our hands are full, when we’re carrying boxes.

The UPS and DHL’s, productivity increased significantly because of these buttons. And when we design for people with disabilities, we design a better world for everyone. And that’s the biggest outcome. But people only look at it for the dollar sign. But if you look at it as you’re going to increase productivity for all of your employees, there you go.

 (THIS IS THE 47 MARK WIHTOUT INTRO – I COULD CUT HERE.)

[00:47:55] Suzanne F Stevens: We were talking about earlier how I believe seven States

are not encouraging learning about diversity, equity and inclusion and access.

Would you say besides that? I mean, that’s a huge thing. Do you think over the last 20 years, we have progressed in regards to access?

[00:48:21] Emily Purry: Ooh, 20 years. So the ADA was passed 32 years ago.

[00:48:26] Suzanne F Stevens: Can you just, ADA is?

[00:48:28] Emily Purry: The Americans with Disabilities Act. It was passed 32 years ago. we have definitely made progress. In the physical space accessibility arena, we have made progress in the digital space is definitely coming along. Where I don’t think we have made progress is, or we’re making slower progress is breaking down the stigma and fear and understanding disability. There is a reason here in the States that the unemployment rate has not really changed at all since the passing of the Americans Disabilities Act. And if the act prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities, you would think that this number would have changed and it hasn’t drastically changed in 32 years. And there’s a reason for that. And that’s because of the lack of education, the lack of understanding the, the stigma that people with disabilities are less productive than those without that. The Misunderstanding About Disabilities. And until we can get through to the humans, which is where I focus is the humans and seeing people as disability as humans and that have qualities that are able to be hired and trained and valuable to your company, those numbers aren’t going to change.

And so that’s why I focus so much on the workplace. It’s why, like you were saying earlier, having a job gives every single person a purpose, whether that’s a fantastic million dollar paying job. Or a small job in a coffee shop. Having purpose is essential to human life. And when we don’t give people that opportunity, it’s devastating.

And so it’s important. It’s the workplace is an important place that I feel I can make a difference.

[00:50:25] Suzanne F Stevens: Yeah, absolutely. and one thing I’ll always say is when people are helping a beneficiary or somebody they serve, but beneficiary as a whole, the best two things you can ever do is provide opportunity. That opportunity gives them income. Income gives them dignity. It does not matter which marginalized, vulnerable, or underrepresented community you are focused on in a social initiative.

That’s the way to do it and find a way where they can contribute to society is So essential. And when we don’t create that pathway for people to do that, we are not taking advantage of all this wisdom and lived experiences to provide for our customers. It’s just,so important, which kind of leads us to

 Autism. Because on April 2nd, it was World Autism Awareness Day. I thought of you your little girl. And I know you have a daughter. How old is she?

[00:51:30] Emily Purry: She is now 23, almost 24. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

[00:51:34] Track 1: What is it that you feel, people need to be most aware of when it comes to Autism?

[00:51:43] Emily Purry: I think one of the biggest things, which is one of the biggest symptoms of autism, is the social expectations. The social awareness of people, the autistic community. We expect people to react the way that we have deemed quote unquote, “normal” and the majority, and not everyone, the majority of folks on the autism spectrum, don’t react in that way.

My daughter, she also has a processing delay of receiving information, but her facial expressions do not match. She’ll say, hello, it’s nice to meet you and have a very blank face. And that does not meet social expectations. And so when autistic community is being integrated more than I would say a lot of communities, right now, it’s a, there’s a big effort towards that. If you happen to run into that, you will see, and you will make many assumptions and judgments. Based on that person across from you, is that blank face, the, more bland response. And and that’s not at all autistic people. I want to make sure I clarify that. But especially with my daughter, that meeting social expectation is one of the biggest contributors to the response of people, like I said, when I was saying my advice of staff training, that’s when people start treating people differently, is when they don’t meet those social expectations.

And that’s all disabilities. Me as an able bodied passing person, when I ask you to read a menu, they’re like, what’s wrong with you? Because they can tell that I can still see. But it, again, it’s not meeting those expectations. So I think social expectations is one. The lack of eye contact often is one or very intense eye contact.

My daughter tends to what we would call stare intensely at you, which she fixates almost on you. And so it’s a different way of eye contact. And then I think the other pieces are ways of doing things and being really clear in your communication, gray areas are not good for people, with autism. They want white and black. They often think in white and black, don’t say, well, if you think so, well, maybe. Be very clear. I want you to do step one, step two, step three, and communicating that and being really clear in your communication. I think those are the big things, folks can do.

And again, when you see somebody who is not meeting expectations, observe it. And move on. Yes, you might have to repeat your instructions or what you’re asking. You might have to, interact with that person or communicate differently. But that doesn’t mean stop communicating with them and avoid them and talk to somebody else. So

observe and keep moving forward.

[00:54:45] Suzanne F Stevens: I love that too, give them a chance, .

Don’t ignore them. Don’t move on. I’ve been caught and got this wrong. And, to your point where I expected a social response and I felt this person just would not look at me or deal with me and only would deal with my husband.

 I mentioned it to someone and they said, I think he’s on the autism spectrum. And I said, Thank you. said thank you for calling me out

[00:55:18] Emily Purry: Because it didn’t even occur to me.

[00:55:21] squadcaster-fbi8_1_04-04-2024_105316: Ever since that awareness, that gentleman and I get along fabulous, but I need it cause I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

[00:55:32] Suzanne F Stevens: And so somebody respectfully said, I think this is why Suzanne. And ever since I, I felt, I did feel, Hey, Suzanne, they caught a blind spot. Thank you.

Now see, I can’t say blind spot, can I?

[00:55:46] Emily Purry: I was just gonna say, see if you caught it. That’s so funny.

[00:55:50] Suzanne F Stevens: I almost said it the other day to you and I caught it.

[00:55:53] Emily Purry: Oh, that’s funny.the

gap. The gap in your knowledge. That’s a better

way It’s not but yeah, we’re trying to avoid it. Yeah.

[00:56:03] Suzanne F Stevens: I’m going to edit that out.

[00:56:07] Emily Purry: The gap. The gap. That’s, yeah. The gap

[00:56:08] Suzanne F Stevens: The gap in my knowledge. And,we’re not perfect. I definitely am not, but I’m always improving.

[00:56:16] Emily Purry: That’s the piece that if nobody hears anything else today. It’s, we’re not going to be perfect. I am going to act in a way that catches me off guard to a person on the autism spectrum. I am going to make those mistakes as well. Just because I teach this information every day, doesn’t mean that all programming for the last 42 years is destroyed. And so as long as we can say, I made a mistake, I’m sorry, and I’m moving on, and I’m going to try and do better. That’s all we can do as humans. I made a mistake, I’m trying to do better, moving on.

And not making a big deal out of it.

[00:56:51] Suzanne F Stevens: It’s like you’re saying conditioning, like you’re, and then you’re catching words all of a sudden that you’re saying is hold a second. That’s not right. That’s a, that’s a condition and it’s a gap. Right?

 I know you are running a non profit for health and well being for people with disabilities, and you are no longer running that non profit.

The two questions on that is first, why did you start a non for profit focused on health and well being for people with disabilities?

I started it originally. So in 2009, I was running down the waterfront in Portland, Oregon, and I fell in an unmarked maintenance hole. Now, many of you might be saying, why are you legally blind and running? As I mentioned at the beginning, my vision is progressive. And back then I was safe to run by myself.

I had no problems. Again, I was an athlete, no big deal. There was an unmarked maintenance hole. While I was running and I fell into it. And though I had navigated my life with disability all my life, I was legally blind and I knew how to do that, when that combined with a physical injury happened, My world was torn apart. I used my legs, because I don’t drive, to get everywhere. And so when I couldn’t walk, when I was on crutches, I had five knee surgeries, the fall blew up everything in my right knee. we did as much as we could to avoid the surgeries, but I was in and out of braces on and off crutches for five years before I could be without pain meds and not on crutches.

And so my life was turned upside down and there was nowhere for me to go. There was no one who could help me get a really bad ass workout like I was used to. My identity as an athlete was shattered in five seconds. I didn’t know what to do, how to do it. What would give me that adrenaline rush and those coping skills that I had through sport and running and all the things I did. And so I didn’t know who I was. I was depressed. I drank way too much. I mean, I didn’t know who I was. And so I said I wanted to find a place that Somebody like me could go to and rehabilitate where staff knew that I was blind, yes, and I couldn’t use my right leg, but they’re going to do whatever they could to give me a hardcore badass workout where I could feel those endorphins, where I could feel like an athlete again, where I could find myself, where I could deal with the mental health piece, where I could find people who also related to my situation. And so the original mission was to develop a facility that somebody could come and rehabilitate and get back on their life track, whatever that looked like. and so that was the original. And while we were operating, we work on a much smaller scale to get to the bigger vision, but health and wellness is not something that is seen as a pertinent part of life for folks. It’s not seen as something that is a must to life, especially for people with disabilities. It is seen as an extra or something you don’t need to function. And so health and wellness activities and sports are not typically accessible. Look at your hiking trails, look at your parks. If you start looking around, your environments, you’ll see, wow, that’s not accessible.

Wow. Okay. this trip that a group of people is going on is not accessible. Transportation, here in Portland, there’s no transportation to the coast. So as a surfer who doesn’t drive, I have to rely on other people, or I have to pay for transportation, or I have to, I don’t know, I’m about to grow wings and fly over there, I’m not sure what to do, but the access to health and wellness and sport and recreation is not there. And so RAPID was the name of it, was designed to do that and offer accessible activities for people with disabilities. And that’s also, looking at all aspects, social health and wellness. It’s, physical health and wellness, emotional health and wellness, so not just physical.

And it did that, like you had

[01:01:28] Emily Purry: had programming, yeah. And we did a retreat that was probably our biggest thing that was amazing. We had 15 people with disabilities, all different disabilities, not just one type, which is pretty rare,come up for a weekend and we did accessible kayaking and we did accessible fitness and we had meditation and that was accessible to everyone, blind, deaf, Wheelchairs, all different people.

[01:01:49] Suzanne F Stevens: And we had massage, people who are willing to give a massage and we had chiropractic that were willing to work on people with different bodies. And it was incredible. It was incredible. And unfortunately you had to close it down

[01:02:01] Emily Purry: yep, we did.

[01:02:03] Suzanne F Stevens: You were doing what you’re doing now. and this?

[01:02:06] Emily Purry: Yeah. So I had my for profit Purry Consultants and then I had the nonprofit Rapid.

[01:02:11] Suzanne F Stevens: That comes down to funding. Was that

[01:02:14] Emily Purry: Yeah, it really does. I think to run a successful nonprofit from the ground up, you either have to be a celebrity, someone with a significant amount of money, or the time and dedication without another business so that you can, I mean, I worked for free for four years and thatfor that organization.

And. It wasn’t sustainable anymore. I was running, I was a mom of three. I was married then. I had my business. I was trying to get this non profit up and running. And funding is also limited for people with disabilities. There’s a lot of causes out there that I’m sure all your listeners are passionate about.

And so fighting for funding for people with disabilities is just not high on the priority list right now.

[01:03:04] Suzanne F Stevens: Another major gap?

[01:03:06] squadcaster-fbi8_1_04-04-2024_105316: Major

[01:03:06] Suzanne F Stevens: I believe now you have a guide dog?

[01:03:09] Emily Purry: Yes, I do.

[01:03:11] Suzanne F Stevens: And how was that transition for you in your athleticism in going to clients’ in the workplace?

[01:03:22] Emily Purry: It’s still a transition every day. Honestly, as somebody who has been able to fake being able bodied and still can at times all my life, that acceptance of my vision disability getting to the point where I needed to use a guide dog and being treated significantly differently, whether I have her or not.

 It’s still hard every day. when I got the call that they had a dog ready for me, cause they, do a bunch of testing and find a dog that matches your walking speed, et cetera. They called and said, we have a German Shepherd who’s ready. And I looked at my then husband and said, Oh crap. Am I going to be able to do this? Am I going to be able to out myself every day? As a legally blind person walking down the street now. And it took me time and it still does people treat me differently when I don’t go with my dog, people treat me differently than when I do go with my dog. And so I have a lot of privilege in the fact that I can still navigate sometimes, familiar areas without my dog, unfamiliar areas as Not as good. and so I have that privilege as well as that devastation that I know if I take my dog, I’m going to be treated one way. And if I don’t take my dog, I’ll be treated another way. And that’s still an acceptance every single day that I have to face and work on.

[01:04:51] Suzanne F Stevens: And how long have you had the guide dog for?

[01:04:53] Emily Purry: Six years. She’s eight now. So I think, yeah, six years.

[01:04:58] Suzanne F Stevens: And it’s just a, I wanted to ask you that because your point about getting treated differently, just for all of our audience to remember, human is a human and, everyone deserves respect and kindness. And, so thank you for being vulnerable and sharing that with us.

[01:05:17] Emily Purry: Absolutely.

[01:05:18] Suzanne F Stevens: So let’s dive in.

[01:05:20] Emily Purry: Here we

go.

[01:05:21] Suzanne F Stevens: We’re going to make these real short and sharp.

[01:05:23] Emily Purry: Okay, I’m ready.

[01:05:25] Suzanne F Stevens: All right, the first question of the lightning round. What is the most significant thing citizens can do to uplift your beneficiary? So people with disabilities.

[01:05:37] Emily Purry: Get training. If you’re inside an organization, ask about training for people with disabilities, and learn, but don’t learn from the internet and apply that information to everyone you meet. Everyone’s different. Learn, understand, and then, get to know people for who they are.

[01:05:56] Suzanne F Stevens: What is one thing you wish you knew prior to engaging down this contribution path?

[01:06:02] Emily Purry: How exhausting it can be at times to constantly share my story I try to and stay positive in my classes. I lose it sometimes when people, but for the most part, staying positive, even though it’s hard to be vulnerable 24 7 about it.

[01:06:25] Suzanne F Stevens: What is the worst piece of advice you ever received?

[01:06:30] Emily Purry: That I was never going to graduate high school because people don’t graduate with disabilities.

[01:06:36] Suzanne F Stevens: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

[01:06:40] Emily Purry: To just go for it and be yourself.

[01:06:43] Suzanne F Stevens: What is one piece of advice you would give to an entrepreneur who wants to have a social impact?

[01:06:50] Emily Purry: Take the small steps. Discover those five best practices that you can do, especially in a small business to become more inclusive.

[01:06:59] Suzanne F Stevens: What is one recommendation you would suggest to promote a culture of contributing so within your organization?

[01:07:07] Emily Purry: Constant learning and training, especially of yourself as a leader and if you have staff and employees. Like we’ve talked about a lot today, the awareness, especially for people with disabilities is the first step. First step is bringing awareness and disability is one of those things we just haven’t talked about.

[01:07:25] Suzanne F Stevens: Now, I know you said you had a daughter that was 23. I know you have two other children. Anyone close to 10?

[01:07:32] Emily Purry: Yes, my 11 year old daughter. Yep.

[01:07:35] Suzanne F Stevens: Okay, so if your daughter, I always ask the question, if a daughter was 10 today,

[01:07:41] Emily Purry: Okay.

[01:07:42] Suzanne F Stevens: What advice would you give to her?

[01:07:45] Emily Purry: Probably the same I give to adults. Be yourself, treat people with kindness, and know that people interact with this world differently than you do.

[01:07:55] Suzanne F Stevens: What advice do you wish you received at 10 years old?

[01:07:59] Emily Purry: Remain to be yourself regardless of whatever situation you’re in. You don’t have to be like anybody else.

[01:08:06] Suzanne F Stevens: What is one thing you had to do that made you uncomfortable, but if you didn’t do it, you wouldn’t have had the desired impact on your social initiative?

[01:08:18] Emily Purry: It’s my everyday work, training people, getting, educating people that don’t understand. It’s hard, it’s uncomfortable at times, but I know it’s making a difference.

[01:08:32] Suzanne F Stevens: And I actually thought you were going to say, saying your story. When you said that earlier, saying your story and all I could think of, does that trigger you? And often when we say our story and if we have a trauma attached around it, it can trigger it over and over again.

[01:08:50] Emily Purry: And it’s, that’s why I think it’s so exhausting as I’m, I am very real as a human being, whether I’m on the stage or not and it comes up and I, like I said, dealing with acceptance every single day. It’s. It’s. true. I’m not being dramatic. There are days that I go out and I’m like, I just want to be able bodied and not have to deal with this. And I’m not. So let’s move on and keep going. It’s an everyday thing. And with my sight progressing. It changes on a yearly basis. So I always am in this cycle of acceptance and grief.

[01:09:26] Suzanne F Stevens: Who’s the greatest female influence in your life and why?

 My mom, because I think she showed us the real reality of life, the good and the bad. The Mistakes she made and the, she wouldn’t say triumphs, but she was also very successful in all of her own rights. I don’t know that she believes that to this day, but I learned a lot of things that I wanted to be because of her. And I learned a lot of things I didn’t want to be because of her life and her experience as well. And then, superficially, Michelle Obama and Oprah, I definitely listen to. They’re just wise women and who have experienced everything. and I just admire them for sure, but they’re not in my life. No, and you know what? And they don’t need to be. And it’s interesting because I think Michelle and Oprah are two people that a lot of people that are in the social space admire. And I’ve decided I’m going to pick Whippy Goldberg.

[01:10:31] Emily Purry: Oh, that’s another good one. Yeah.

[01:10:33] Suzanne F Stevens: Yeah, because so many people, and I do love the view and Whippy is real. She gets to it.

[01:10:39] Emily Purry: Yep, direct, for the point, yep.

I’ve always loved, both those women, but I thought I need someone different, but yet, yeah, Whippy does it for me. What three values do you live by?

Trust, honesty, and loyalty.

[01:10:59] Suzanne F Stevens: Now, do you have a book that you would recommend for others to read?

[01:11:02] Emily Purry: One that definitely pivoted me into this direction is You Are a by Jen Sincero. It talks a lot about living in the moment. Bringing forth your strengths and just going for it. And it seems very, it’s not like some prestigious book but it really shifted my life. You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero.

[01:11:24] Suzanne F Stevens: And that’s the beauty. It doesn’t have to be. It’s that one thing that comes to mind. So besides yours, which be beneficiary do you think needs the most investment of time, research, and money?

[01:11:36] Emily Purry: Definitely the intersectional community of black women Who experience disabilities and are LGBTQIA They are the most vulnerable and the most targeted community out there and experiencing the most violence on a daily basis.

[01:11:57] Suzanne F Stevens: Thanks for that. Where can people reach or follow you?

[01:12:00] Emily Purry: Yeah, I am on, my website is PurryCo, P U R R Y C O dot com. I’m on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn. and I’m also Emily Purry on LinkedIn as well. just about everywhere.

[01:12:17] Suzanne F Stevens: Great. And we’ll also have your website on your exclusive page on the, You Me We Amplified podcast. So do you have any last words or words of wisdom for our audience regarding making a conscious contribution to society?

I think one of my catchphrases is, Get comfortable if you’re uncomfortable, and lean into it. You’ll get there. It will become comfortable at some point or another. And if it’s too comfortable, then you’re not doing the work. Love it. Thank you, Emily, for sharing your insight, inspiration, and amazing social impact with us today. To discover more podcasts with sheIMPACTpreneurs, transforming where we live and work with sustainable social solutions, visit podcasts. You Me We ca. Please like, share, and subscribe. And until next time, I’m Suzanne F.

Stevens, and I encourage you to make your contribution count for You, Me, We.

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