Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & Martyn Sibley

The topic of today’s episode is personal for Mai Ling. Before our guest joins the show to talk about ADHD, Mai Ling shares her own personal experience with her diagnosis. James then sits down with startup founder and expert ADHD/neurodiversity advocate/speaker, Chris Wang to talk all about ADHD and its effects on adults. Chris is the co-founder and CEO of Shimmer, a comprehensive behavioral tech platform for adults with ADHD. In addition to explaining the Shimmer app, Chris also shares some different approaches to managing ADHD, advice for newly diagnosed adults, and some of the biggest challenges that they face.

Our guest today is Elisa Shipon-Blum, or Dr. E, as her patients call her. She is the President and Director of the Selective Mutism Anxiety and Related Disorders Treatment Center (SMart Center). Dr E is an expert on Selective Mutism (SM) and has helped to treat thousands of patients over the past three decades. She speaks with Mai Ling about how she started her work in the area of SM, the genesis of the Selective Mutism Association and the SMart Center, as well as various treatment methods. She also answers the question, Is alternative communication an option for individuals with Selective Mutism?

In the introduction to this episode’s interview, Mai Ling shares an exciting announcement about an upcoming project that she’ll be working on. Then we jump into a conversation between Mai Ling and Dr. Li-Rong “Lilly” Cheng, who is the Director of the Chinese Cultural Center at San Diego State University. Dr. Cheng was the founder of the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus of ASHA and she talks about her early days as a diversity advocate and the unique perspectives of Asian culture on discussing diversity, inclusion, and sensitive matters. They also discuss the progress that has been made on these issues and what still needs to be accomplished.

Comedian and screenwriter Greg Roque joins the show today for an insightful conversation with James. As a teen, Greg had a spinal injury which paralyzed him and he brings his unique perspective on life as a disabled person to his comedy. He shares with us a little about his approach to comedy, where the line is for comedy about disability, and the accessibility challenges he’s faced as a comic in a wheelchair.

Before we introduce our guest in this episode, Mai Ling shares a major update about a new venture that she is embarking on that has a connection to our guest. And that guest is technology explorer, evaluator, and reviewer, Yonah Welker, who has a mission to reshape how nations, cities and ecosystems embrace human-centered algorithms, environments, policy and emerging technology – specifically addressing human capability, wellbeing, experiences and beyond. Yonah and Mai Ling chat about the role of technology in the disability space with an emphasis on artificial intelligence.

Our guest today is UK-based, Disability Inclusion Specialist Michael Grimmett. Michael talks with James about an inaccessibility incident at his local pizza restaurant that he was able to use to shine light on accessibility issues. As a wheelchair user and disability advocate, Michael’s personal experiences have given him a platform to talk about the terminology and language around disability and those who have disabilities and he shares those perspectives in this conversation. In addition, he shares his thoughts on the difference between accessibility and inclusion.

Our hosts, Mai Ling and James, share some important updates on what is going on in their respective careers before we dive into a discussion with our guest. Sawsan Zakaria chats with Mai Ling about her participation in the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge on multiple occasions. As an actress and model with a neuromuscular disease called spinal muscular atrophy, Sawsan talks about her experiences as an actress with a disability in LA, recounting some of the highs and lows. She also shares her thoughts on how the collective preconceptions about disability are slowly shifting in the industry.

Today, we welcome to the show Vanessa Castañeda Gill, the Co-Founder and CEO of Social Cipher, a game-based, social-emotional learning platform for neurodiverse youth. Social Cipher launched their first game called Ava, and Vanessa shares the story of its development and the impact it’s made on the target audience. She also talks about growing up with ADHD and Autism, how that has affected who she is today, and exactly why she chose a video game as the vehicle to make a difference in the lives of neurodiverse young people.

Just a few years ago, our guest Sandie Roberts, suddenly found herself at the intersection of being a middle-aged woman and a full-time wheelchair user. Unable to find adequate fashion options to suit both her new situation and her personal tastes, Sandie decided to do something about it. Sandie sits down with Mai Ling to talk about these unique experiences that led her to launch Roll With Style, a new venture that aims to assist wheelchair users with stylish and fashionable clothing options. They also discuss Sandie’s biggest growing pains during the process and how important clothing is for one’s perception of self worth, especially those in midlife.

Speech-language pathologist and educator, Sandy Dorsey, is our guest this week on the show. As a global advocate for children with special needs, Sandy talks with James about how disability is viewed in developing countries and what she’s doing to overcome stigmas about disability and educate the public. She’s also the founder of the non-profit organization, Smiles for Speech, which provides access to developmentally appropriate resources to support children with disabilities. So she also shares how the organization got started, the impetus for it, and some of the services she and her team provide.

As we kick off the first episode of the new year, Mai Ling and James share their thoughts on new year’s resolutions. Then Mai Ling sits down with Chanda Hinton, Executive Director of the Chanda Center for Health and Chanda Plan Foundation, to talk about her journey of founding and running the health care center. They also discuss proactive and preventive health care options, the stigma around not-for-profit organizations, how the Chanda Center for Health differs from traditional health care offerings, and a lot more.

For our Xceptional Leaders 2022 finale episode, Mai Ling and James share some thoughts and observations on the new National Disability Institute report, Small Business Ownership by People with Disabilities: Challenges and Opportunities. They also share some highlights from past podcast guests that pertain to some of the points addressed in the NDI report. We think you’ll enjoy this part retrospective, part state-of-the-industry discussion as we cap off the year and look forward to 2023.

Our guest for this episode is Dr. Carlene MacMillan, an expert in mental health and VP of Clinical Innovation at Osmind. Carlene’s area of focus is exploring innovative mental health treatments for anxiety and depression, among other conditions. She talks with James about some of these treatments such as psychedelic assisted therapy and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) therapy. Over the course of the conversation, Carlene helps us to define some of these newer therapies and addresses some of the misconceptions around them.

Today, James and Mai Ling share some updates on their journeys and then Mai Ling brings us an insightful conversation with speaker, writer, and social media influencer, August Rocha. August talks about the value of participating in and even building your own online communities in today’s culture. Intersectionality, advice for starting a TikTok account to build a brand, and life with Behçet’s disease are just a few of the other topics covered in this upbeat interview.

We’re excited to bring this week’s guest to you today. Rachel Madel joins James for an insightful discussion from her wealth of experience. Rachel is a speech-language pathologist, AAC specialist, podcast host, and international presenter who shares about the value of networking and building relationships, her mantra “inspire don’t require”, some of her approaches to speech therapy, thoughts on Gestalt Language Processing, and her experiences as an entrepreneur in this engaging conversation. Tune in and get your notepad ready!

Our guest this week is futurist and thought leader, Giselle Mota, who focuses on enabling inclusion as it relates to product design, the future of work, and all things emerging tech including web3 and metaverse. She joins Mai Ling to talk about her work as the creator of NFTY Collective, which aims to ensure that people of diverse representation are included, represented, and able to access web3 and metaverse by creating avatars that represent people with both seen and unseen disabilities for use in games, websites, and other applications. Giselle shares her vision behind NFTY Collective, her perspectives on building a team around a vision, and more.

Clothing designer Chamiah Dewey joins the show today to talk with Mai Ling about her work. She created Chamiah Dewey Fashion, the UK’s first clothing brand for people with Dwarfism/short stature. Chamiah tells about the beginnings of her fashion design career, the impetus for launching her company, and her system for breaking up business-related tasks throughout a week. This conversation not only dives into the creation of a business but also some great time management tips that anyone can implement. 

Bryan Dinner is our guest for this episode of Xceptional Leaders. He is the CEO and founder of Clarifi, the desktop app that assists teens with ADHD and attention challenges with completing online homework. Bryan talks with James about his personal experience with ADHD, what led him to found the company, and his process for developing a minimum viable product (MVP). This discussion is a great case study on building a business around a digital product and doing it the right way.

We’re so happy to bring you this insightful and informative episode today about breakthrough voice technology. James chats with co-founder and VP of Strategy at Voiceitt, Sara Smolley. Voiceitt is a speech recognition app for people with speech disabilities, but to fully understand the capabilities and potential, Sara talks about various use cases and how users benefit. She also shares tips for entrepreneurship in the disability space and even a bit about personal experience with a family member with a speech disability.

Mai Ling and James kick off this episode sharing what they are up to lately. Mai Ling talks about her new approach to Tiktok and James reports on his recent work change. After these updates, Mai Ling shares a conversation she had with speaker and personal development coach, Carson Tueller. Carson talks with Mai Ling about the meaning of ableism, his personal journey of coming to grips with a life-changing spinal cord injury, the intersection of sexuality and disability, and his perspectives on what it truly means to be human.