By KJ Hepworth

• Live graphic recording provides a map for information to move from short-term, working memory, to long-term memory, where the details are much more likely to be recalled over time.
• Graphic recording serves as a memory aid for people who have (temporary or permanent) wandering attention, distraction, or executive function, so we can slip back into presence at evens and resume being fully present and engaged as many times as we need to.
• Graphic recording scaffolds learning by reinforcing auditory based/ listening learning with visually based seeing learning. The presence of both learning modes together stengthens and amplifies the other.
• Graphic recording supports literacy and language understanding by pairing related words and images. This also reduces the cognitive load required to understand complex ideas, meaning people with less capacity can understand more complexity.
• Graphic recording’s illustrative style keeps information resonant for people in the room. It’s easier to ‘buy in’ to information presented in hand-rendered ways. The information feels closer, less abstract, more friendly. All of this helps it be understood better.
• By using consistent, repeated colours, styles, and graphic flourishes in an ordered composition, graphic recording builds up a visual rhythm that presents information as soothing and structuted, while also reducing the effort it takes to understand that information.Shame and discomfort can lead some to think of disabled people as unfortunate folk who are far away. But we are right here. We are your overworked colleague, your kind neighbor, and sometimes, your boss.
  Us disabled folk are in your events, and we are paying attention to how your accommodations line up with your organisation’s claimed values about diversity and inclusion.
  You can’t tell who is disabled by looking at us. And it is not ok to ask, or expect us to educate you on how to not be awful about it. So what can you do?

  Hire a disabled access officer to lead co-production of disability justice-led access plans for your events and organisation; give them budgets to control and share other power with them. Failing that, hire a disabled person to run your event. Or hire disabled speakers, caterers, and artists. Hire them for their talent, and pay rates talented people deserve.** And always, always, hire a graphic recorder.

  *Disability is not a dirty word. It’s a description of how much less access a person has to some experiences and capacities most people take for granted.
  ** Disabled professionals, like other marginalised groups, are routinely asked to perform and present voluntarily, or for honoraria (token payments at a fraction of industry rates). This is an outdated practise that has no place in truly inclusive workplace cultures, nonprofit or otherwise. If you can pay an able-bodied CEO their going rate, you can pay your disabled talent properly, too.