Presenting at the Health Equity Anti-Racism (HEAR) Symposium was a privilege and an incredible opportunity to share our research project on older adults living in Single Room Occupancy (SRO) hotels with a wider audience focused on health equity. This was my first time standing in front of an audience of more than sixty people. When I went up there, I thought it would be challenging to do public speaking, but then I realized I should just go with the flow of the slide presentation and the talk I had practiced multiple times.
When I finished my presentation and heard the applause—and saw people’s reactions to the quotes from our participants—I truly felt the impact I was making. I wasn’t just sharing the process of our project; I was uplifting the voices of marginalized older adults living in SROs. I was showing their challenges and strengths to an audience of public health professionals and researchers, highlighting the importance of conducting research that centers the voices of older adults rather than using them only as numbers in our data. Working with these older adults has taught me that they each have unique life experiences and that they need people to advocate for them and involve them in the process.
