Carol's Corner

I had the opportunity to compete in a Toastmaster Division Table Topics contest on October 15, 2016. Table topics is simply impromptu speaking. In other words I was given a question, had to answer immediately and would be judged on whether I answered the question well and in a mini speech format – opening, body, conclusion and in the time frame of one to two minutes. I found the question to be one I could answer easily but the danger would be keeping in on time.
The question, “If you could give a message to a large audience, what would your message be and why?”

The thought of being able to speak to a large audience is truly a dream of mine. I have many messages I speak on but the one that came to mind I would share with an audience of vast numbers, a handful or even one other person. It is a message with a challenge to each one of us to learn to know others who might not be like ourselves and include them. Too often we do not know enough about someone with a disability or how to communicate when our first languages are not the same. We might not know what to do for the person in the wheelchair or with mobility aids. How do we talk to someone who is hard of hearing or hang out with someone whose sight is gone or nearly so. What about those who struggle to make their wants and needs understood because they are trapped in a body that will not do what they want it to. These unknowns causes fear. I believe that we need to educate ourselves and others to take away that fear of the unknown.

My answer that day included these thoughts. The message I would take to an audience of any size is that inclusion benefits everyone. We need to learn, mentor, teach, instruct and move beyond the stigma, the fear and look for the abilities within the disabilities, look for what we have in common instead of how we are different. I have stories that illustrate this message. I have given this message in a variety of settings and the personal stories that illustrate it grab the audience attention and hold it. The challenge I issued at the end of my short answer the other day is the same one I issue and would issue over and over to an audience of any size. It is, “Be courageous and include.”

What message would you like to deliver to a large audience? What stories would you use to illustrate that message? Have you had the opportunity to give that message to an audience of any size before?