There's a movement among UUs (and I guess the liberal community in general) that any public speaker will begin by providing a self-description, for the benefit of any visually impaired people in their audience. My own congregation started doing this recently when a legally blind person started attending. (I'm unsure how involved she was personally in starting that practice with us, but I do know our minister started recommending it be done, and doing it herself, once this person started attending.)

Example, if I were introducing myself: "I am a middle-aged white man with greying brown hair and a bald spot, wearing a plaid shirt and blue jeans, and I use glasses."

It's always bugged me for some reason, and I think I've figured out why. A couple of reasons.

I'm not blind, but I do have a visual impairment in the form of reduced color vision (I hate the word "colorblind" because it implies black-and-white vision, which most of us don't have.) It's not something you would necessarily know about me unless I bring it up.

But for the people who do know this about me -- it hasn't happened much but is has happened, that people I meet decide I need a description of what they're wearing. I get they're trying to be inclusive, but when it happens to me as a non-blind person it feels really patronizing.

I also put the question into Google to see what other people are saying about it. I found several corporate DEI boards who are recommending it. I also found a thread over on /r/blind where they talked about this practice. It's a couple of years old, but it was the only place I found from within the Blind community -- the only place where their voices are centered. It was a small sample but it was mostly unanimous, they don't want this. They feel it's a distraction.

With one noticeable exception - if your physical appearance is relevant to what you're talking about, then go for it. They used the example of a presentation on wheelchair accessibility, it would be useful to know if the speaker themselves is actually a wheelchair user. Other than that, they recommend avoiding the practice.

Anybody else have any experience/thoughts on this question?

Long-term UU from the Midwest, who will be visiting Pittsburgh on Sunday, June 9. I see there are six UU churches in the area, hoping to narrow down my choice for a church to visit that morning. Any Pittsburgh UUs who can help with my decision?