- [Shajira] Hello, everyone, and welcome to the National Disability Institute's inclusive language training. I'm Shajira Brown, the director of equity and inclusion, and I'm so happy to be moderating this training. For this training, you can look forward to discovering and learning: why inclusive language is so relevant to the world, what inclusive language is and why it matters, review the recommended terms, obtain strategies on how to implement inclusive language into your daily work, and how to course correct in an event that an error is made. I have a simple ask of you. Throughout the training, please keep an open mind, be optimistic, and remember, we are all human, and because of that, we all make mistakes. It's how we come back from those mistakes that truly matters. A key element to having a wide reach today is to use inclusive language in your work. Your work results in helping all people with disabilities, knowingly or unknowingly, without regard to race, gender, religion, age, et cetera. As a professional who provides services, it is our responsibility to ensure that no matter what community a person or persons live in or what socioeconomic status they have, the tools provided must be appropriate, obtainable, and relatable to all people, including individuals with disabilities. We all know that service delivery should change depending on the nature of a person's disability. Service delivery does not always follow a one-size-fits-all model. What we will be examining today are some intersecting identities people with disabilities have and how to best talk about it and consider them. Inclusive language equals ensuring relatability and furthering our reach. Before we dive deeper into our training, let's start with quotes from Markus Zusak, a best-selling author from Australia, Mother Teresa, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and Catholic nun, and Victoria McGovern, where they all share the importance of words. If you notice, I did not mention Victoria's credentials, and that's because I cannot verify who she is and what work she has done, but her quote is amazing. Using language carefully is important. You will always be successful when you listen to the field and/or your clients and are open to hearing different ideas, using multiple resources, and understanding differing perspectives. Implementing this strategy can be crucial to your work, which leads me into the quote my Victoria McGovern. "No matter how inclusive we are working towards being, we can always do more. We can always do better." Inclusive language is something that we will always be working on. The materials we currently produce must be meaningful, attainable, and most importantly, regarded as evergreen. Over the years in our profession, we've all learned that there is power behind words. Mother Teresa once said, "Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." And Markus Zusak said, "The best word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words. They were the ones who could climb the highest." Inclusive language is the bridge for fostering an inclusive environment. When words are used accurately, it can change systems and minds alike.