Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & Martyn Sibley

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.

Today Mai Ling chats with Mike Adams, the CEO of Purple, a disability organization working to bring disabled people and businesses together. Mike talks about his work building a fully accessible online marketplace, why he and his team took the build-from-scratch approach, and what brought him to start a career in the disability sector to begin with. He also shares about the success of the Purple Tuesday initiative and how it’s become a global movement. But before this fantastic conversation, Mai Ling and James bring you up to date with what’s been going on in their lives. This is a packed episode with lots of great information that you don’t want to miss!

Our guest for this episode is Occupational Therapist and Gerontologist, Raheema Hemraj. Mai Ling speaks with her about her work as the co-creator of the Rehab Tech Summit and they dive into how the event started, who it is for, and some of the spin-off events. Rahemma also tackles the question of whether or not one needs to have clinical experience to move into the health tech/product development field. She shares some great insights from her years of experience as a company founder and passionate voice in the health tech space.

Our spotlighted guest for this episode is The Gerontechnologist, Keren Etkin! She is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, and self-described age tech evangelist. Keren is the founder/director of AgeLabIL and she also runs the AgeTech Academy. She sat down with James to discuss some of the technological advances in the very specialized arena of tech for the aging, how this tech fits into the user’s daily life, and where she’d like to see things go in the future. From robotics to voice assistants, they cover it all!

Our guest today is disability advocate Jake Linn, who launched the Disability in Hollywood initiative to bring awareness to the inequities in Hollywood surrounding people in the entertainment industry with disabilities. Jake talks with Mai Ling about how he got started with the project, the issues he and his team are addressing, and some of his personal experiences. He is passionate about raising awareness and changing the culture of Hollywood to one that embraces people with disabilities.

Our guest today is the founder of FreshSLP and host of The Missing Link for SLPs podcast, Mattie Murrey-Tegels. Mattie chats with James about how to reinvent yourself and your career, the value and importance of self-care, and the difference between burnout and just being tired. In addition to this value-packed interview, Mai Ling and James share some updates from their own journeys. This episode is one you don’t want to miss!

We’re excited to share this great conversation with you! Our guest today is Chris Wenger, aka Speech Dude. He is an SLP, social media influencer, and the creator of the Dynamic Assess of Social Emotional Learning, a neurodiversity-affirming assessment to get a holistic view of a child. Chris talks with James about effectively using humor to educate, developing a winning mindset, and how your health plays a part in your individual success. Don’t miss this high-energy, motivating interview!

Mai Ling and James are bringing a great interview for you this week. Our guest is professional American Sign Language interpreter and coach, Lanette Pinkard, who grew up as a child of deaf adults (CODA). Lanette has been the lead interpreter of teams for high-profile events all over the world and is the founder of My Hands Your Heart, LLC, a team of master interpreters specializing in customized ASL services for all types of organizations. Lanette talks with James about her experiences as a CODA, how they inspired her to pursue ASL as a career, how she launched her coaching services, and more. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear about this inspiring journey!

In this packed episode, Mai Ling and James share some exciting updates and tidbits about what is happening in the disability space and then James has a great conversation with today’s guest. Gareth Walkom is subject matter expert on using virtual reality as a therapy for speech disability or difference and has spoken at events around the world on the topic. He is the founder of withVR, a company that develops custom VR environments specifically for speech therapy. He talks about what VR is, explains VR exposure therapy, and describes how users interact with these programs in this insightful interview.

Our guest today is Joe Devon, the co-founder of the Global Accessibility Awareness Day and a co-founder of Diamond, an inclusive digital agency specializing in assisting clients to develop and implement accessible products. Joe talks with Mai Ling and shares some highlights from Diamond’s annual State of Accessibility Report, tells how his father was the inspiration for his accessibility work, and why accessibility online is so vital. 

We kick off this episode with Mai Ling and James both sharing about events they recently participated in and the takeaways from them. Then James has a great conversation with speech-language pathologist and author, Jeannette Roberes. She has extensive experience working with dyslexic learners and consults with tech companies on dyslexia inclusivity. Jeannette shares about her work running the disability inclusion think tank, Bearly Articulating, and why she's made it her mission to educate the tech community about the unique value neurodiverse people can bring to the table.

Mai Ling sits down with Katrina Martin, PhD, the founder of Bridges Learning System, to chat about her work in curriculum development. Katrina has focused on designing curriculum for disabled youth that supports and empowers neurodivergent individuals. Katrina shares why it’s so important for both students and educators to have educational tools designed with this in mind.

In our first episode of 2022, we kick off Season 4 of the show with a new co-host! James Berges joins the Xceptional Leaders podcast for the first time, so Mai Ling takes this opportunity to introduce him to you. James is a speech-language pathologist and copywriter who uses his diverse skillset to support and enable SLPs and other clinicians as they work toward their individual goals. Through his SLP Transitions project, he also assists SLPs who are looking to expand their horizons by providing information, tools, and case studies to facilitate their journey. We’re thrilled to have him on the team!

In this final episode for 2021, Martyn and Mai Ling bring you up to speed with all that’s going on in their respective worlds and share about what’s in store for the show in the future. Martyn then shares his conversation with strategic marketing expert and podcaster, Anna Price. Anna talks about what it’s like living with ADHD, the experience of being diagnosed as an adult, and how she’s used it as a tool to build a career in marketing. She also talks about the unique skills that neurodiverse people possess and the value they can bring to a company.

Mai Ling kicks off this edition of the show with a few updates for the Xceptional Leaders community and then she introduces this episode’s guest, Chris Klein. As the vice president of Impact Voices and a writer and speaker about AAC communication, Chris is equipping the next generation of AAC users with insights on AAC communication and other things that relate to overcoming the barriers of a disability. As an AAC user himself, he is passionate about making sure that the voices of the users are being heard and that they are involved in the conversations around this technology.

Attending live events can be stressful and challenging for people with disabilities so that’s why we’re so excited about what today’s guest is doing! Today Mai Ling chats with Austin Whitney, an accessibility consultant for event producers, about how event planners can make their events accessible to everyone. Through his various organizations, Austin is working to make more events accessible, educate folks with special needs about how to attend and enjoy live entertainment, and a whole lot more. As a wheelchair user himself, Austin is using his lived experiences to make a huge difference in the world of festivals, concerts, and other live events.

Mai Ling and Martyn kick off this episode with a chat about disability and health related awareness days and how to everage them. Mai Ling also shares an update on the next book in the Xceptional Leaders series. Then Martyn shares an interview with Isaac Harvey. He is the president of Wheels and Wheelchairs, an organization which pairs up wheelchair users with roller skaters to experience fun outdoor adventures together. Isaac talks about his story as a wheelchair user, how he first got involved with Wheels and Wheelchairs, and some of the other projects he’s working on.

Today Mai Ling and Martyn take a few minutes to celebrate 100 episodes of the show before introducing our guest. Martyn brings us a great conversation with YouTuber and Instagrammer, Gem Hubbard. Gem talks about her journey of being disabled as a child, the dark times after becoming disabled, and how she was able to persevere. She also recounts how she went from working a retail job to launching into the world of social media and becoming an online content creator and disability influencer through her Instagram and YouTube outlets.

Our guest today is Steven Woodgate. Steven chats with Martyn about his personal experiences with dyslexia and how he turned those challenges into his superpowers. He also shares about using his unique perspective on problem solving in the business world, using technology advancements to your advantage, and overcoming obstacles as a neurodiverse person.