Disability Education in Developing Countries with Sandy Dorsey
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
Release Date: 01/30/2023
Observing Without Eyesight with Dr. Mona Minkara
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
Dr. Mona Minkara chats with James in today’s episode about how to use other senses beyond eyesight to observe scientifically. Mona is a blind assistant professor of Bioengineering at Northeastern University and a travel vlogger who lives by the maxim that vision is more than sight. In this fascinating conversation with James, she talks about her interest in science at an early age, how she uses other senses in her scientific work, and how curiosity is an integral part of her personality. She also shares her passion for traveling the world and thoughts on overcoming the doubts that so many of...
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Creative Marketing & Careers for the Neurodivergent with Merlee Jayme
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
In today’s packed interview, James chats with Merlee Jayme, Chairmom® and Founder of the Misfits Camp. Merlee shares some of her backstory, including some experiences in her early, formative years which had a profound impact on her life and her approach to marketing and creativity. She also talks about her passion for creating careers for the neurodivergent which led to the formation of the Misfits Camp and why she’s not averse to the term “misfit”.
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Becoming an Exceptional Leader with Michael Zalle
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
Mai Ling sits down with founder and CEO of YellowBird, Michael Zalle, to talk about being a successful leader as a person with a disability. As a veteran tech entrepreneur, Michael pulls from his extensive experience in the business world to share about when it might be advantageous to disclose a disability to potential investors. He also talks about embracing your own story and using it to your advantage and he also shares some thoughts on the role of authenticity in business. This is a value-packed episode!
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Making Sports Events More Accessible with Victor Ocando Finol
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
In our opening segment, Mai Ling and James talk about the importance of networking in your local area, in addition to building a national or international network. This valuable discussion is followed by Mai Ling’s interview with founder and CEO of Adapt the Game, Victor Ocando Finol. Victor talks about his experience as a sports fan with limited mobility due to cerebral palsy and the challenges of attending live sporting events. He created the Adapt the Game mobile app to help sports fans who were in a similar situation to himself by addressing accessibility issues with the sports venues...
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AI and AAC Technology with Alan Vu
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
Today we’re featuring an informative conversation between James and fellow speech-language pathologist, Alan Vu. As an SLP and an AAC specialist, Alan was able to leverage his professional background and his personal experience as a person who stutters to help create a new app that combines AI with AAC, called Flexspeak. James and Alan talk about what Flexspeak does and what Alan and his team are working on, as well as why many other AAC systems are being abandoned users.
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DEI in Film Production & Scaling Your Business with Koura Linda
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
Mai Ling starts off this solo-hosted episode with an update about our new episode collections that make it easy to do a deep dive into a specific topic. Then she brings founder and CEO of Space Dream Productions, Koura Linda, onto the show to talk about diversity, equity, and inclusion in film production and how her company is working in that arena. Koura talks about being a facilitator of communication and how her job is “to assist other artists, activists, and educators with connecting with audiences and communicating with them.” And she also dives into some important things to consider...
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Living with ADHD in Adulthood with Chris Wang
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
The topic of today’s episode is personal for Mai Ling. Before our guest joins the show to talk about ADHD, Mai Ling shares her own personal experience with her diagnosis. James then sits down with startup founder and expert ADHD/neurodiversity advocate/speaker, Chris Wang to talk all about ADHD and its effects on adults. Chris is the co-founder and CEO of Shimmer, a comprehensive behavioral tech platform for adults with ADHD. In addition to explaining the Shimmer app, Chris also shares some different approaches to managing ADHD, advice for newly diagnosed adults, and some of the biggest...
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Understanding Selective Mutism with Elisa Shipon-Blum
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
Our guest today is Elisa Shipon-Blum, or Dr. E, as her patients call her. She is the President and Director of the Selective Mutism Anxiety and Related Disorders Treatment Center (SMart Center). Dr E is an expert on Selective Mutism (SM) and has helped to treat thousands of patients over the past three decades. She speaks with Mai Ling about how she started her work in the area of SM, the genesis of the Selective Mutism Association and the SMart Center, as well as various treatment methods. She also answers the question, Is alternative communication an option for individuals with Selective...
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Cultural Diversity in the Speech-Language Pathology Space with Dr. Li-Rong Cheng
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
In the introduction to this episode’s interview, Mai Ling shares an exciting announcement about an upcoming project that she’ll be working on. Then we jump into a conversation between Mai Ling and Dr. Li-Rong “Lilly” Cheng, who is the Director of the Chinese Cultural Center at San Diego State University. Dr. Cheng was the founder of the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus of ASHA and she talks about her early days as a diversity advocate and the unique perspectives of Asian culture on discussing diversity, inclusion, and sensitive matters. They also discuss the progress that has been made on...
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Comedy, Disability, and Self-deprecating Humor with Greg Roque
Xceptional Leaders with Mai Ling Chan & James Berges
Comedian and screenwriter Greg Roque joins the show today for an insightful conversation with James. As a teen, Greg had a spinal injury which paralyzed him and he brings his unique perspective on life as a disabled person to his comedy. He shares with us a little about his approach to comedy, where the line is for comedy about disability, and the accessibility challenges he’s faced as a comic in a wheelchair.
info_outlineSpeech-language pathologist and educator, Sandy Dorsey, is our guest this week on the show. As a global advocate for children with special needs, Sandy talks with James about how disability is viewed in developing countries and what she’s doing to overcome stigmas about disability and educate the public. She’s also the founder of the non-profit organization, Smiles for Speech, which provides access to developmentally appropriate resources to support children with disabilities. So she also shares how the organization got started, the impetus for it, and some of the services she and her team provide.