Would paying a person to share their story “cheapen” the value? 

I recently came across a comment where someone said that if they found out a person had been paid, it would “feel sketchy” and like that person had “benefitted.” 

From the perspectives of a storysharer and a lived-experience leader, I have volunteered hundreds of thousands of hours over my lifetime. I have shared stories, including my suicide-centered story, for free countless times to help raise awareness, engage an audience, and educate. Over the years, I have spent thousands of my dollars to support events where organizers asked people to speak for free (travel, time, presentation work, and preparation). 

I’ve also been a paid professional speaker, who employed storysharing, when delivering keynotes, workshops, or panels. As a paid professional public speaker, I can honestly say that no one bats an eye when money is discussed. It’s usually the first key conversation when a group or event reaches out. 

In my opinion, the key feature of these two examples is the word “professional”. In both cases, I delivered a nearly exact service with the same goals and outcomes in mind. In the first, as a lived-experience speaker, I was often asked to speak because of my story. As a professional speaker, I can say it isn’t that different. I understand the rhetorical triangle, communication macro-structure, and many more public speaking concepts and strategies. 

But none of that matters in the end because tons of professionals speak ALL the time and know nothing about public speaking. Many don’t even differentiate between presenting, speaking, and facilitating. 

What I see when someone says paying a lived-experience person “cheapens” the experience is a lack of value in the work being done by this person. This person who has survived something significant, worked through this experience, gleaned unique wisdom, and found it within themself to share their story in the hopes that others won’t have to go through the same harrowing tale to only find themself broken, or unpaid on stage. Beyond the experience of navigating the unknown to refind themself, this person puts in work to share. They have to weigh their emotions, the toll of public disclosure, the unpredictable revelations that occur in public settings while strangers judge them, and the aftermath of re-examining every word they shared when they return home. 

Of the dozens I’ve asked whether any organizers have ever even checked on or followed up with them after they shared, only one has ever said yes. We don’t even check on these people. So how are we possibly at risk of cheapening their involvement by at the very least paying people for the WORK we are asking of them? 

People who provide services deserve compensation. People with lived-living experience are professionals. We pay professionals every day. 

Pay lived-living experience folx. It’s the absolute least we can do. 

#compensationdoesntdevalue 

#livedexperience