Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ani Grigorian. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ani, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

My work contributes to a future where disabled people, including people living with chronic pain, chronic illness, and mental health disabilities can live a life where our physical spaces and culture are designed and operated from a more informed place of care. While we live in a world where many of us, over 25%, live with some kind of disability, talking about our experiences navigating a world not built for us is still such a taboo topic outside of disability-centered spaces. This percentage will only increase as we get older and our lives become more complex, and has even increased over the last few years as COVID has and still continues to impact people. I hope that when I am gone, more disabled people can walk into or work at any business, large or small, or attend any event and have their needs met without having to overly advocate and educate just to get a coffee or enjoy a night out. Above all, I hope that more disabled people can be compensated and considered as the ultimate designers and lived experts in how to create inclusive, adaptive communities for our vast range of human needs. During COVID many of my corporate clients had to shut down the major projects they hired me for. I began working with an organization Detroit Disability Power which aims to organize the disability community to advocate for policy change. Since the end of 2020, I have run their Disability Accessibility Consulting program in addition to my own clients outside of this organization.

Ani, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a geriatric social worker turned accessibility consultant, working to improve how we design and operate physical space so that we can remain a part of our communities as we age and live with disability. I grew up moving in and out of the United States and was exposed to many cultures from a young age. I became fascinated, and often heartbroken, witnessing how different cultures across the world design infrastructure and generally care for aging people during the final phases of our lives. I often came back to the United States noting how much of our dominant culture here lacked the emphasis on collective care that truly enabled so many intergenerational communities to thrive elsewhere.

During my graduate program at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, I took my niche interest in aging work and merged it for my love of design. Upon graduating in 2016, I formed my consulting firm since there weren’t often jobs for me and I had to create and pitch my own. While I didn’t always call what I was doing as accessibility work, this is how I understand my practice in it’s current form. Accessibility to me is something we actively create that considers what different people need to use a product or navigate a space in a way that best works for them. We all have access needs, some of our needs are just considered by default more than others. Since aging and disability are two of the only identities that all of us experience, no matter what our other identities might be, we will include more people by designing with these identities in mind. The way we conceptualize disability here, whether it’s age-related or not, is very individualized, rather than us recognizing how we need to better design our homes, schools, communities, and places of joy to meet different access needs so that people have what they need to move around with ease. I’ve also come to understand my own identity as a disabled person as I’ve managed severe chronic pain for the last nine years, and have done a lot of work to understand disability without an aging lens which was a big part of my early career.

Fortunately, everyone from city planners, technology innovators, arts and culture producers, and even fashion brands were just beginning to grapple with our long history of excluding, erasing, and ignoring disabled people based on ageist and ableist thoughts and practices. Over the last seven years, my career and client list has felt like riding and catching different waves helping people identify, reflect, and build a strategy to better make their organization more inclusive while improving their public offerings. These offerings might mean be producing an event or programming, selling a product or service, or constructing a new building and wanting to make sure as many people’s needs are considered as possible. My favorite applications of the work are supporting disabled creatives and staff producing art, music, and additional events. Attending a concert, whether at a large stadium or intimate club is often really difficult if you have any kind of disability. Being able to attend usually means you’ve spent years building relationships with venue owners or operators so when you call ahead or you arrive, they know what you need. However, this access is often really individualized rather than done at a scale where anyone, regardless of the type of disability, will have their needs met. Operating staff are often not set up well by their superiors in order to best serve their audience, let alone any disabled staff working at the venue or touring artist needing to get through the building and onto the stage.

Something I really pride myself on is approaching the work, both internally within myself and with my clients, as free from judgement and shame as possible. Unlearning a lot of the negative associations society has ingrained in us about aging and disabled people’s value and what we deserve is not easy work, so creating a space where people can be transparent and honest about where they are and brainstorming possible solutions is vital for any kind of change. This is especially important since organizations and businesses are often required to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and fear digging into this work exposes them to legal liability. However, I always remind them that the ADA is civil rights law, not just something that informs building code, and not being aware of where they are at is much worse than having a clear understanding and developing a road map to better meet what we consider the floor when it comes to accessibility. Another common misconception is that many organizations across industries don’t realize that this impacts them in some way, shape, or form. Everyone has a responsibility from whatever role they are in to make sure that there is a disability analysis to their work, what they create and their operating culture.

I am someone who really likes to stay behind the scenes and make sure everyone else has the care they need to do their jobs, which can be really hard in a world where entreprenuers are judged by what content have branded and shared publicly. One thing I am working on is ways to better tell my story and share my work online, I just have to balance it with my need to be off the computer and take care of myself, my mental health and my chronic pain.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Word of mouth! Whether it’s my own clients or my clients through Detroit Disability Power, 90% of them come from building great relationships over time, and having collaborators and previous clients speak your name when they hear of an opportunity they know you will be a great fit for. I’ve also found that the clients that come from referrals tend to respect me as a professional and acknowledge what I need to do the work more than people finding me online with no mutual connections. Since accessibility work is very new and nuanced, it can be difficult to paint a picture of what the work and value looks like on paper before you begin working with a client. The way I approach the work and how I make my clients feel has done more to communicate my value to potential new clients than anything else at this point.

I also do a lot of research and cold calling when something sparks my interest and I want to get experience in a particular field or industry, no matter how outlandish or silly it may seem in the moment. For instance, when I was recovering from back surgery in 2021, I had to take time off of the computer and was watching a lot of film and television. I started researching major accessibility issues in the film industry, and reached out to disabled creatives to hear about their experience advocating for accessibility coordinators during production to learn about where the greatest need would be for someone like me. About eight months later I received a call from someone producing a major event in the documentary film industry and needing a coordinator to jump on right away. That was pivotal job for me in so many ways, and I got to work with amazing creatives I have admired behind a screen for years.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

I pride myself on truly building intimate, honest relationships with clients and additional people I work with. I believe this comes from my early life of moving around every 1-3 years and having to make new friends very quickly. During the work, I intentionally engage with as many people as I can, and remember details about their lives, passions, and what makes them safe. I keep this in mind as we move through the work together. It also helps that the work I do often requires me to be quite vulnerable, and so people often feel very safe sharing personal details and experience when they don’t really get to in other aspects of their work.

As a job is wrapping up, or over the next year and beyond, I do my best to check in on occasion whether it’s through a text message, email, or my personal favorite, a letter! Small details like remembering birthdays, or other important dates such as the anniversary of a loved one who may have passed, is incredibly powerful. When I am traveling or trying to support small businesses in my community, I will stock up on quality greeting cards or even just a stationary set and I spend time once a month writing letters to people in my professional life checking in and spreading some love. A tip ill share is adding peoples birthdays and their office/home addresses when appropriate to the contact card in your phone helps to keep yourself organized, and surprise and delight your clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.anigaccess.com
• Instagram: @anigaccess
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ani-grigorian-a778aa92/

Image Credits
Image 2 is by Bakpak Durden and images 3 & 5 are from the World Economic Forum.