Speaking & Press

Jessica in her wheelchair wearing a tan blouse and maroon high rise pants

Where Access Leads

I believe a talk should feel like watching a life transform in front of you. My talks take you on a journey of how one choice can change the direction of a life.

Jessica looking to the left and clapping her elbows together on stage

What Shapes It

On stage, I work with the audience to hone in on the moments that look small but change everything. I speak to show how design can move someone forward or hold them still.

Jessica speaking with a mic in front of her

What Comes After

I help audiences think through what they build after they leave the room. Every keynote ends with a call to action that I call UnHANDing Ableism. It's the moment when each person identifies one thing they control and redesigns their approach.

Jessica presenting a powerpoint in front of a whiteboard

Most Requested Offerings

Designing Belonging

This keynote introduces disability through my life and work. I was born without hands and feet and spent three weeks in a coma after arriving without a heartbeat. From the start, access shaped what was possible. Growing up in a mainstream performing arts school and using prosthetics, I learned to design my own ways to move and create. When chronic illness later changed my pace, online learning showed how design can remove barriers. Through my story, audiences learn disability basics from real experiences and see how design choices can shape the trajectory of a life.

Innovating Disability Inclusion

This session explores how disability underpins modern technological innovation. Using a series of real-world innovations, participants will trace how disabled people have reshaped technology by adapting to real-world barriers. Audiences leave with five practical strategies to apply universal design and anti-ableism in any organization.

Developing the Future of Access

In this session, participants explore why disability inclusion is profitable. It demonstrates a top-down model for building disability-inclusive organizations within leadership decisions to everyday systems. Audiences learn how to apply this model in their own workplaces and leave with concrete steps to put it into practice.

Anti-Ableism in Higher Education

Schools want to meet the legal requirements for campus accessibility but struggle to support disabled students. Designed for administrators, faculty, and students, this session explores how campuses can truly support student success. It draws on real campus examples and the Anti-Ableism in Higher Education report, which analyzed disability laws in all 50 states. Participants come away with a toolkit to make accessibility work on real campuses.

Digital Accessibility At Every Layer

This interactive session introduces digital accessibility and how to build it into real content. Using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) as a foundation, participants engage in a series of mini-exercises that show how content can be designed through sight, sound, touch, and movement. Attendees leave knowing how to recognize and create accessible content.

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