Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Neurodiversity Checklist and Accreditation with Andy Williamson
29 Plays3 months ago
This week Tanita caught up with Andy Williamson from welcome brain consulting to discuss their Neurodiversity in Events Checklist and venue accreditations.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Neuro-Inclusion in Events
00:00:06
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to Eventful Encounters, the podcast where we dive into the trends, ideas and brilliant people shaping the business fence world. I'm your host, Tanitha Gill, and today we've got a good one.
00:00:16
Speaker
We're talking about something the industry has needed for a very long time, a genuine, thoughtful and actual practical approach to neuro-inclusion. And the person leading the charge is with me today.
The Birth of Welcome Brain and Neurodiversity Accreditation
00:00:27
Speaker
He's the founder of Welcome Brain and behind the brand new neurodiversity accreditation that's already making waves in the sector.
00:00:33
Speaker
I'm very proud to say that the ESI Rooms is the very first venue to receive the accreditation and not just accredited. We're gold accredited. So let's get into it. Andy, welcome back to Inventful Encounters.
00:00:45
Speaker
Thank you for having me. It's great to be here. And yes, congratulations as well for all your work on getting the gold accreditation. That's huge. Thank you. And thank you for your help because it was painstaking. and tell you It's a team effort. It's a real collaboration. no And I think you you and the team worked really hard. So it was a pleasure to be part of the process.
00:01:04
Speaker
Thank you. We're very, very proud. But I feel like we've been talking about this like for months. And so it's finally nice to sit down with you and and actually dig into the work that you've been doing. But before we jump into the accreditation itself, let's rewind a little bit.
Welcome Brain's Mission and Global Impact
00:01:19
Speaker
And so for anyone that doesn't know you yet, what's the story behind Welcome Brain and how did it all start? Well, Welcome Brain is now officially two years old. We had our birthday a couple of weeks ago. So thank you very much. um And so we are we're based up in Edinburgh, but we're UK wide.
00:01:36
Speaker
We are neuro inclusion consultancy. So we work with organisations of all shapes and sizes to help them become their inclusive or to implement neurodiversity policies, anything that falls under that umbrella, really.
00:01:48
Speaker
And you and I met um because we do a lot of work in the events space. and And we work with ABCO and EICC to build the Neurodiversity in Events Checklist. So that was um a guide we worked with those organizations to build.
00:02:06
Speaker
to help people in the events industry, particularly PCOs, to develop ah events that are neuro-inclusive, to take those everyday steps, often sort of small and and quite intuitive steps to just make the experience more inclusive for neurodivergent people.
00:02:21
Speaker
And so... And yeah, I mean, it's been um it's been ah it's been a wild ride. ah It's been since we launched the checklist in February, we've had about 4,000 views of it ah from all around the world. it literally Literally every continent, and ah apart from Antarctica. Every continent has had somebody who has looked at the checklist and we've had 450 downloads of the checklist. So people are implementing this. And I think what's so interesting about the events industry is it's a hospitable
Challenges and Solutions in Implementing Neuro-Inclusion
00:02:55
Speaker
industry. People are are you know are very sort of outgoing and extroverted and really welcoming.
00:02:59
Speaker
So they're they're always... sort of really friendly. So we never had to sell the the why. We never had to explain to people why they should be neuro-inclusive. We, in making the checklist, just had to explain to them how they would do it.
00:03:11
Speaker
And that's what the checklist is really there about. It's about sort of making those small steps that make a huge difference. And I think that's what kind of resonated with us here at the Eastside Dreams. and The approach wasn't kind of titboxy. It was actually about making real change in the industry in the way that venues and event professionals think and how we kind of put on our events and how we communicate.
00:03:33
Speaker
Like literally from the minute we said that an event is going to be somewhere to when the event is actually taking place. Yeah. So we loved that. When you look at the events world now, and where were the biggest gaps that you noticed that made you think, right, we need to kind of put something in place?
00:03:48
Speaker
I think in general, it's it's it's probably sort of the mindset and the approach. I think a lot of times when people are planning events, um I think what they do is they follow a playbook that they've had for years. And they say, this is how we ran this event last year or a similar event last year.
00:04:04
Speaker
And so we're going to follow follow the same step by steps, which I totally understand because events are big and chaotic and confusing. So any order you can bring to it is useful. But I think, Ben, that makes it difficult to adapt your processes and to sort of change your thinking in terms of so adding neuro inclusion into that conversation.
00:04:22
Speaker
So that was why with the checklist, we thought the most important thing to do would be to sort of provide that really practical advice um so that hopefully it plugs into the existing templates that you have, um you know, the existing policies and procedures and those existing
Venue Accreditation and Commitment to Inclusion
00:04:36
Speaker
playbooks.
00:04:36
Speaker
So that when you're planning your event, you can just sort of slip neuroinclusion in there rather than seeing this as a totally new thing you have to do. So I think, I mean, again, I don't think that um the event space is necessarily sort anti-neuroinclusion or anything like that. They are a little bit behind, I think, some some of the people in the corporate world when it comes to adopting these policies.
00:04:56
Speaker
But I think that's because the mindset is about repeatable processes and doing things the same as they've been done before, and which I totally understand. And then from the back of that, how did the accreditation come about?
00:05:10
Speaker
So almost immediately, as soon as we produced the checklist, people started saying, well, some things in this checklist are on the venue. They're not necessarily on the on the event's organizer. And we were starting to get inquiries from event venues, such as yourself, saying, we want to take this seriously. This is a meaningful thing for us. What can we do on the venue side? Is there any help you can provide?
00:05:32
Speaker
and and And I think that um the best way to get sort of meaningful change to to take place and then to embed itself so it becomes the new normal is to have people holding each other accountable and to create a little bit probably of market pressure on neuroinclusion.
00:05:48
Speaker
So what that means is we want to create a situation whereby venues such as Eastside Rooms um They get their accreditation. And so event organizers who are interested in running their inclusive events think, well, I'm going more likely to take my business to Eastside Rooms than to one that doesn't have an accreditation.
00:06:05
Speaker
So there is a sort of market pressure and then the the accountability that follows. So I think it's it's really natural.
Accreditation Process and Collaborative Efforts
00:06:12
Speaker
and And for for organizations like Eastside Rooms, what you've done, as you know, putting together you know the pack for the accreditation,
00:06:21
Speaker
is about building resources that you can use multiple times. So you have the videos now of you walking from the train station to Eastside Rooms. I've seen them. um and And so now whatever event comes along, if someone says we need that, you have that resource ready.
00:06:36
Speaker
So it's just them about building those resources that people can help themselves to. And then it just plugs and plays into the event checklist. Exactly. And I mean, it's initially challenging getting all that stuff together. And I can say that with confidence because you definitely made us work for it. But once you've got that in place, it's there forever and it's there to kind of build upon. And that's definitely our intention to build upon it and make more and more and more of it so we can...
00:07:02
Speaker
say that we are constantly thinking about how we can be more and more non-inclusive. yeah Can you talk us through the core pillars of the accreditation? Like, what are you assessing and on why are you assessing certain things? Yeah, well, I mean... Just a few of them, because I know there's a lot. Yeah, absolutely. Well, yeah, of course. So so you... um you kind of jumped right into the deep end. You went straight for gold accreditation. You're going to do it. Do it properly. Well, I agree. I agree. So there are actually three tiers to it. There's the silver, gold and the platinum levels. And that mirrors what what we have in the checklist as well.
00:07:37
Speaker
And it's really, really designed across the board. It is sort of no excuses. This is an on-ramp to neuro-inclusion. We'll make it as easy as possible for you or as hard as possible for you not to do it. So um the silver level, which is sort of the entry level, is sort of really basic um day-to-day things that actually don't cost that much money and don't require a lot of resources.
00:07:59
Speaker
um You went for the gold level accreditation, which has a bit more work to it. But in terms of what the actual content is, it's across 10 different areas. So and it goes from everything from pre-event communication to post-event feedback and how you collect all of that information.
00:08:14
Speaker
But it has things about... um How are you sharing the maps of the venue so that people can you know easily find where they want to go? Are you allowing staggered start times? And do you have facilities for people with different needs, physical and and sort of neurotype based needs?
00:08:30
Speaker
It has things around catering. So it runs the the full gamut of of what is involved in an event and what is involved in being a venue. But it's meant, ah hopefully that people listening to this don't think it sounds too daunting because the silver level, the entry level is meant to be things that are sort of very attainable to do without too much work.
00:08:48
Speaker
Gold level is a little bit more work. And in platinum, we're talking serious stuff. But I mean, throughout the whole process, hopefully you you can attest to this, we're on hand to help with it. So it's very much a collaborative process. It's not just a case of you do it, you submit your evidence and we say, oh, well, you failed.
00:09:04
Speaker
It's a case of we work with you to get you up to the standard you want to be. um So we're there to help the whole way through.
Recognizing Existing Practices and Achievements
00:09:11
Speaker
Yeah, and there was definitely some back and forth between us when we were going through the process as well. Yeah. and And it definitely took, I think when I initially started the process, it took me longer than I thought it was going to But I don't think anything was particularly difficult. I think it was just that gathering of stuff and work kind of across the venue with different teams and stuff, make sure that everybody was on board and everybody kind of knew where we were going.
00:09:36
Speaker
That was the biggest thing for her. Yeah, I mean, and in your instance, you were you were amazing because um you oftentimes you had all of the stuff there. it was just about consolidating it. So it's just back almost like a spring cleaning. You just had to sort of find, okay, we have this document here or this policy over here. Let's just get it all together.
00:09:53
Speaker
And that's all it was. um But you were doing a lot of the stuff already. And I think that's going to be true of a lot of venues as well, is that oftentimes ah there's a lot of things on that checklist that you were already doing. Yeah.
00:10:06
Speaker
You just kind of don't associate associate it sorry ah with kind of neuro-inclusivity and being part of that world. So it's in a separate document somewhere. You just need to pull it out and put it all together.
00:10:17
Speaker
And that's what the big thing is. For us, neuroinclusion sits at the heart of what we do. And we wanted to take it going forward from kind of the sensory mapping to the signage to our team training.
00:10:28
Speaker
But having external validation from a specialist like you was such an important step forward. And it felt like a saying, we see you, we hear you, and we're doing something about it. But kind of and what made us stand out? What made us, is there anything that we were doing that you kind of thought that we were leading the way a little bit?
00:10:45
Speaker
Well, I mean well you mean, you've led the way because you're the first ones to get the accreditation. You're world beaters in that respect. But yeah, I think that you had a lot of the um so the architectural side of it down. So you were really good on on the way people moved around the space. That was very thoughtfully done. um I think you've done a lot of work on sort of physical disability in the past that um actually was was easily transferable across to thinking about neuro-inclusion. Yeah. So, you know, your your quiet spaces are amazing. The actual sort of lighting in the space, the physical environment that you have at Eastside Rooms is was fantastic. And that, yeah, I think you were really ahead of the curve on that. um And so I think that made it relatively easy for you to apply those things across the neuroinclusion. I was very impressed with that.
00:11:32
Speaker
Thank you. We're very proud. Where do you think the accreditation will push the industry over the next few years? What do you hope changes as a result?
The Future of Neuro-Inclusion in the Events Industry
00:11:41
Speaker
Well, i mean, I think I probably hinted it earlier, but I hope that neuro inclusion just becomes the new normal. I think that um much as it is nice to sort of to give you credit ah for the work that you've done, I want it eventually to be the case that it's expected that venues are neuro inclusive.
00:11:58
Speaker
and Absolutely. And that's what it has to be. Yeah, exactly. And so, again, that's why I keep emphasizing that this is this is supposed to be an easy process. And if not, you know, the biggest barrier that most organizations have is they think it's going to cost a lot of money or they they're very daunted at it because it seems like a big and and sort of wide ranging project.
00:12:15
Speaker
But I want to get... organizations to realize that even a bit of neuro inclusion is better than no neuro inclusion and to have it so that this is expected so the way the industry i want it to change i mean i think probably legislation will come in in the next five years or so that will make this a little bit more compulsory and um and and internationally i think it's worth mentioning that the uk is seen as a leader on neuro inclusion at the moment so i would love for the uk to to keep pushing this and to
00:12:48
Speaker
to create a situation whereby internationally they were looking at what you know the east side rooms are doing or what we're doing and and use those as models for what they can do around the world so i would say yeah in a nutshell our goal is is total global domination of neuro inclusion just a small target exactly exactly You said something just then, Andy, about how people shouldn't be daunted and doing something is better than nothing. I just want to touch back on that because I think that's what stops a lot of people. They feel like they have to get it right first time. They feel like they have to be giving it kind of the full kitchen sink and everything in it.
00:13:22
Speaker
But actually, that's not the truth, is
Benefits and Incremental Progress in Inclusion
00:13:24
Speaker
it? They can do a little bit and kind of build on that as building blocks. Yeah, absolutely. I think there's a case for saying, you know, perfect is the enemy of good when it comes to neuro inclusion is that people get caught up in trying to make it perfect.
00:13:37
Speaker
And then they just say they just quit. And they think if I can't get this 100% right, it's not worth doing. But, ah you know, what I say, particularly when we do trainings is actually probably you can never get to a perfectly neuro inclusive event or perfectly neuro inclusive thing, because every neurodivergent person is so unique and individual and has different experiences and different requirements.
00:13:58
Speaker
that actually you're only ever going to get up to 99.9% perfect. And and then you then it's about being flexible and responsive and empathetic on the day. so um So I think that that that is a key thing. And when when we launched the checklist, this is what we said. If you take the checklist and you look at the silver level um and you think, well, okay, that's the entry level one, but even that's a bit too big for us. We're just organizing, I don't know, a folk night in a pub or something, a small event that has no budget.
00:14:27
Speaker
Pick yeah one or two items off that checklist and do them. And that will make somebody's experience better and easier. And i mean, that matters everything to that person. And, you know, even if you can't allocate any money to it or resources to it, you can improve somebody's experience.
00:14:42
Speaker
and And I think if if we're going to talk financially, we should also talk about the um the the statistic that Eventwell found, and where they said that 85% of neurodivergent people won't attend an event if it's not neuroinclusive.
00:14:57
Speaker
I remember hearing this early in the year and that's kind of what triggered me to get involved. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I cite that one all the time because I think, you know, now sort of the way that the the wider economy is going and I know that events and venues are always sort of looking at their budgets.
00:15:16
Speaker
I think that you can reframe this as being a really solid investment because if 20% of the population is neurodivergent and 85% of them won't come to an event, that's 16% of the total population. So one in six people.
00:15:28
Speaker
So if you're struggling to sell tickets or if you're struggling to fill a venue, ah have a look at neuroinclusion because this is a real meaningful thing you can do to get more people just coming to your event. you not sad yeah Not to mention participating more and having a better time.
00:15:43
Speaker
Exactly.
Enhancing Neuro-Inclusive Experiences
00:15:44
Speaker
Exactly. I think you've summed it up massively there. and Just to put it out there, we, outside of what we paid for the accreditation, we didn't actually spend masses. Like it wasn't a huge budget we put behind. We've just got to gold through sheer teamwork and collaboration.
00:15:59
Speaker
um And I think there were definitely times in the process where I thought very much so. If we're not going to do it perfectly, let's just not do it. and But I'm so glad that we stuck with it and we got there and we are now gold accredited.
00:16:10
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And like you said, so much of it is the process of like what you learn and stuff. So now when you're you're faced with a situation that requires you to be flexible, you've got the grounding in knowing what neuro-inclusion actually looks like so you can respond well to that. So it's it's about the learning process as much as it is about the sort of accreditation. Yeah.
00:16:29
Speaker
Yeah, and you definitely learn masses. So getting a little practical now, for the ill organisers out there listening, and maybe they haven't kind of started their neuro-inclusion journey yet, what are three simple but realistic changes they can make for their next event?
00:16:44
Speaker
Oh, okay, three. Okay, so the first one is is the one that I i always cite. is um It's about the videos of the from the public transport hub to the location.
00:16:55
Speaker
And again... love it again. Atilita, I saw you you. You put in the hard yards walking around Brum filming those videos, but I think... In the rain. Yeah, noted. So, yeah. um But I think that those are really important because there's so many neurodivergent people and so many event planners.
00:17:13
Speaker
You know, neurodivergent people are neurodivergent before they get to your event. They're not just neurodivergent when they're at your event. but But removing the surprise and the unknown of how to actually get to your event is is really, really important. So if somebody can watch on a video, this is how I get from Moore Street Station to east Side Rooms.
00:17:31
Speaker
They're going to know, okay this is how I do it This is the landmarks I look out for. This is how long roughly it should take me. And that makes a huge difference to people's experience, how they actually arrive at the event. So that yeah that I would say is the first one.
00:17:43
Speaker
ah The second one is a sort of a broader point, but it's about sharing as much information as possible in advance. So um share firstly that you you are a newer you're a new inclusive event. Ask questions, say in your emails, say, but we're planning on making this a new inclusive event. If you have any requirements or adjustments, please let us know. and And then the last one I said, I've lost my train of thought. Give me a second. I had the last one lined up in my head, but I got waffling on.
00:18:10
Speaker
That's all right. You carry on. You take your time. um but what it So far, it's been about kind of awareness, communication, and intellectual, and just kind of being thoughtful around what you do. Yeah.
00:18:22
Speaker
And then the last one um is about the scheduling. And it's the probably the hardest one to actually implement um on the day. But that is about um sticking to your schedule. And don't be tempted if things start to overrun to just skip breaks or try and play catch up. Because for a lot of neurodivergent people, and also for a lot of neurotypical people, the...
00:18:42
Speaker
schedule and the regularity of the schedule is really, really important. um So it provides a lot of sort of psychological safety to know, okay, this if this section is going on 45 minutes and then I get a 15 minute break.
00:18:55
Speaker
And the casualness with which... deadlines get missed and people just blow through supposed end of a session it's really common but it it makes a big difference on how people can sort of recharge psychologically in between sessions so i would say be very strict on your scheduling try not to overrun if possible and that involves things like doing speaker training and having quite an interventionist chair if you're running a panel event um but i know how it goes i know that's that's difficult in practice but i think that makes a really really big difference It does. It really does. It keeps you on target and you know what
Empathy and Global Expansion of Neuro-Inclusion
00:19:27
Speaker
you're doing. yeah And none of those that you've mentioned there require massive budgets or really much operational change. It's just kind of, like I said, awareness, intention and being flexible in communicating throughout. Exactly.
00:19:39
Speaker
Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. ah So it's just about sort of building that empathy into into what you're doing. But yeah, it doesn't require a huge amount of money. I don't think any of those things I suggested actually cost any money other than the time it takes you to walk from the station and have someone walk behind you filming it.
00:19:54
Speaker
I don't think that that does cost any money. So yeah, these are attainable changes. Absolutely. So before we wrap up, tell us what's next. Now the accreditation is live and the first venue and venues and organisers are coming on board.
00:20:09
Speaker
What do you, where do you want to take this? I know you said global domination, but and you're doing training, you're doing all sorts of other resources. Are you going expand? What's next for Welcome Brain? Yeah, well, I mean, ah on the training front, we based on some feedback we got from within the industry, we just launched the new training module called Neurodiversity First Responder.
00:20:30
Speaker
and And I know your ah you and your team are planning on attending. one more sign i am signed up in January, yeah. And I think that's going to be that's that's something I'm quite excited about. um It's it's built to sort of mirror a mental health first aid course or even a physical first aid course, but it's ah designed for managing neurodivergent people who may be in crisis. So it's it's proactive. So it's about how do we avoid crisis in the first place? How do we of spot triggers and avoid them? But then how do we deal with neurodivergent people who may be experiencing a crisis?
00:20:58
Speaker
and And I think that's really important from a safety perspective. And my goal would be for that to roll out to be the situation like with mental health first aid or physical first aid that somebody in every organization is trained in the neurodiversity first responder. But other than that, I mean, we keep growing. We're getting busier and busier all the time. So our team keeps growing. We've had some inquiries from different parts of the world as well. So outside of the UK, which is quite exciting.
00:21:27
Speaker
and so Yeah, I mean, just to keep doing what we're doing and to get more venues accredited, to make um events more accredited and and just to have it keep spreading. So as i say, it becomes the new normal, and becomes the default that people are expecting neuroinclusion in their events.
00:21:44
Speaker
Andy, thank you so much for joining me today. Your work has been game-changing for the industry, and I'm so proud that Side Rooms has been part of the journey from pretty much the beginning. yeah If you're listening and want to know more about the accreditation, we'll pop links in the show notes.
00:21:58
Speaker
And you're an organiser thinking, should we do this, then the answer is yes. All organisers and all venues should absolutely get on board. Start your delegates. We'll thank you for it. This is Eventful Encounters. I'm Tanita.
00:22:10
Speaker
to stay up to date with all things Eventful Encounters and East Side Rooms, follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Thank you. Bye. by