Unlocking Access

When you’re seeking profitability, it’s easy to look at quarterly outcomes as your indicator for success. But what happens if your company is at risk and you’re bleeding talent, time, and money? Here’s how to stop the leak—and it’s not another training initiative or tech solution. It’s focusing on accessibility and the people you already employ. In this engaging keynote, Stephanie unpacks her accessibility-centered leadership framework, Three Keys to Unlocking Hidden Talent, to help leaders focus on People, Process, and Purpose and optimize your team’s potential.

Dr. Cawthon’s journey as a deaf and disabled person is full of insights on how our organizations box people in and undermine their success. This talk reveals how leaders can tap into hidden potential and create teams that don’t just meet expectations—they exceed them. By giving your people a chance to surprise you with their talent and ingenuity, you can build sustainability that keeps moving your organization forward and optimizing your resources. Through compelling storytelling, practical frameworks, and clear calls to action, leaders will learn how to breathe life back into strategy by putting people first.

Our young people often feel invisible and ignored. And yet you’re already leading and making a difference—whether you realize it or not. The question is: In what direction? How can you have the kind of impact that you want to achieve and create a meaningful path forward? Especially in the face of systemic uncertainty and change?

In this energizing keynote, Dr. Stephanie Cawthon challenges the idea that leadership is reserved for those with titles and corner offices. Instead, impact and influence is built one step at a time, starting with the brilliance that each person has within them. Shifting from a passive player into an active builder of your future is essential for anyone embarking on the next stage of their life, school, or career.

And yet this transition can come with much fear and uncertainty. Dr. Cawthon’s journey as an educator and mentor is full of insights on how to support people in a life pivot. What if you could build not only trust in your own decision making, but also peace of mind that the steps you are taking are the right ones? Or, more importantly, that there was no way that you could fail? This keynote provides insight and strategies on how to grow ever more confidently into your next authentic step, and how to remove the fear factor and the second-guessing that detracts from the joy, peace, and focus you deserve. 

When you’re looking to make a positive impact on the lives of disabled people, it’s easy to focus on ambitious goals and reducing inequities. But what happens if your organization gets lost in the weeds and cannot take those big ideas and produce concrete outcomes? Here’s how to stop the chaos and remain accountable to our funders and stakeholders — and it’s not another training initiative or tech solution. It’s implementing a strategic planning approach that aligns your team to mission, engages community stakeholders, and provides structure needed to be successful even in times of constant change. 

Dr. Cawthon’s journey as a deaf and disabled leader, researcher, and strategist brings full insights on how disability-centered organizations can achieve a meaningful impact for their constituents. In this engaging keynote, Stephanie unpacks her disability-centered strategic planning approach: The ACCESS Framework — Align, Community, Change-Ready, Evidence, Strategy, Sustain.