I feel like this would be weird if it was done whenever you introduce yourself anywhere, eg Zoom meeting with co-workers, but isn’t bad as a one-line introduction to a presentation. Especially if the person is given freedom to describe the things about their appearance they find important, it gives a window on their character and how they think about themselves, adding a more human element to the presentation. And a single sentence description doesn’t take up much time in a half-hour or longer presentation. I don’t miss it when it’s not there, though, as for most presentations, it’s flavour, rather than something crucial to the subject.

This is stupid. If I ever encountered this on a Zoom meeting I would probably fall out of my chair from laughing. I don't have any memory of what little vision I lost at the age of 1, so when someone tells me what they look like, it means exactly nothing. I think people should shut up and get on with the presentation.

Really stupid and annoying. GTFO

I've never had that happen to me, and I can only speak for myself, but I wouldn't want that. Get on a call and, "Ok everyone, we have a blind guy on the call today, so when you introduce yourself please also share your ethnicity and hairstyle".

That would just be weird. I'd much prefer people just forget that I'm blind, and treat me as they would anyone else. If I can't gauge someone's ethnicity from their accent and I'm curious, then I just ask them.

I've been seeing some of this lately and ...I'm very mixed about it, honestly. I can absolutely see how this might help some people form an image of who they're listening to, particularly if they went blind later in life. I myself have never seen, and really only need that level of detail if I'm going to do a whole lot more than listen to them do a tech demo :P

I view it as performative ... I view it as Disgusting because visual descriptions of the presenter especially of skin color only adds to systemic racial biases that our society is already failing to overcome. I view it as demeaning for the presenter because instead of putting emphasis on the topic they are there too present, they have to instead draw attention to their physical appearance which in most cases has absolutely no influence on the subject matter. I view it as demeaning to the blind/visually impaired because someone's physical appearance does not help us understand the presenter's message (unless they are presenting their personal experience).

A better practice to adopt instead of physical descriptions of presenters is to implement descriptions of visual aids that are being used during the presentation.

You didn’t hear this from me, but one way to counter the practice might be to tell other people on the call what Muppet they most sound like.

“Hi, my name is Steve, and I’m going to describe John’s voice as two-thirds Gonzo and one part Kermit. Back to you, Susan.”

As I said yesterday when this was asked, I like it. It gives a little insight into who the presenter is without taking up much time. I don't find it demeaning or condescending, but some people just want to be upsetti I guess.

If it's relevant, then yes. e.g. someone who is in a wheelchair talking about wheelchair accessibility, then I would like to know they are a wheelchair user.
I guess for people, unlike me, who have had sight before, it would be nice to have a description of clothing, appearance, etc, but for me it doesn't really mean much. Plus I have enough sight to have an idea what you look like. Depends, but mostly not.

Helpful in the sense we cannot live without it? No. But life isn't just about stuff we can't live without.

It’s an innovative idea to have by default because you never
know who’s in the audience and might want that information. If you don’t want
the information then just ignore it it’s at most a few minutes but don’t ruin it
for everyone else that does want it.

Glad this is continuing. It works for sighted people unable to look at a screen, too.

The Microsoft one turn me off as soon as they started talking about being on native American land. That leftist bullshit doesn't fly with me, and their physical description introductions was like something out of the Twilight zone.

Straight up looks like something that would be a parody of an orwelian society.

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I absolutely disagree with this practice. It is not done with input from the blind community. I look at it as performative inclusion. Do they also hire someone to translate in sign language for each presenter at every meeting? These "accessible introductions" have nothing to do with including the blind or visually impaired and it makes me incredibly uncomfortable knowing that this might become the norm. What someone looks like has nothing to do with their intellect, message, or character ... Just stop.