Oration 2024 MC

Disability Leadership Oration 2024

This page carries the full text of all speeches, linked via the MC’s introduction.

Yenn Purkis MC:

Hello everyone, welcome to the Disability Leadership Oration 2024!

 

My name is Yenn Purkis. I am an autistic, ADHD, Asexual and non-binary advocate and author. I also have a diagnosis of schizophrenia and anxiety. I am also a member of the Disability Leadership Institute.

 

It is my great pleasure to be your MC for today.

 

I will start by acknowledging that we are on Ngunnawal Land here in Canberra and pay respects to Elders past and present.

 

I would also like to acknowledge our friends here today from the First Peoples Disability Network. Your work in our disability community is incredibly important, and your support for the wider disability community to better understand and work with the intersection between First Nations culture and disability is unfailingly generous.

 

I would also like to acknowledge any other First Nations people present or watching today.

 

Some housekeeping:

• This event is being recorded for radio by the ABC.
• Please turn your phone to silent and please do not answer it while you are inside the room.
• Social media is okay! Use the hashtag #DisabilityOration2024
• There are toilets outside and down the corridor to the left.
• The accessible toilet is outside and just to the right of this room.
• If you need to find a quiet space, either the café opposite or the exhibition space is a good place to go. The DLI Team can assist if you need it. Just let them know.
• There is a photographer here today. If you object to being in photos please let them or us know. Otherwise the DLI and the ABC will be using the photos of today for sharing in all sorts of places.
• The DLI Team is here to assist, they are putting their hands up now.
• Be mindful of the tech in the room as you move around, we don’t want an accident.
• If you are online, the DLI Team is monitoring the livestream if there are any problems let them know in the Q&A.

 

And now I would like to introduce Christina Ryan.

 

In 2016 Christina Ryan took one of the most radical steps in her long career of activism and change making: she put the two words disability and leadership into the same sentence. Her next step was founding the Disability Leadership Institute.

 

Now governments and major corporations use the term “disability leadership” and Christina shares her experience and leadership knowledge with disability leaders all over the planet.

 

The Disability Leadership Institute has become a global community of disability leaders, supporting each other through a community of practice and member groups.

 

As a specialist leadership coach, Christina now uses her decades of expertise from frontline disability rights activism, community sector management, systemic advocacy, working at the United Nations, and mentoring to build more disability leaders.

 

Christina has been nominated for numerous awards over the years and was most recently a Finalist for ACT Australian of the Year for 2025.

 

Christina Ryan:

Full text of Christina’s speech

 

Yenn Purkis:

Thank you, Christina.

 

It is now my honour and privilege to introduce the Disability Leadership Orator for 2024.

 

Dr Scott Avery is a professor of Indigenous disability health and wellbeing in the School of Public Health, University of Technology Sydney. He is an Aboriginal man descendant from the Worimi people and is profoundly deaf.

 

Dr Scott is a recognised educator, researcher and policy adviser on Indigenous cultural approaches for the inclusion of people with disability. He has extensive experience in conducting community-based research and policy in Indigenous and disability organisations and is the ‘Professor in Residence’ at the First Peoples Disability Network, an Indigenous Disabled Peoples Organisation.

 

His publication ‘Culture is Inclusion: A narrative of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with disability’ (2018) has influenced national policy across Closing the Gap, Australia’s Disability Strategy, and the Disability Royal Commission. He has been appointed as an expert advisor to numerous Government bodies and is a director on the board of disability service provider Achieve Australia Ltd. He was appointed Ambassador for the International Day of People with Disability in 2023.

 

Scott Avery – Oration:

Full text of the Disability Leadership Oration 2024

 

Yenn Purkis:

 

And that’s it folks.

 

The Oration will be broadcast on Radio National on the Big Ideas program on 3 December. After that you can find it in the ABC podcast library.

 

Thank you for being part of the Disability Leadership Oration for 2024, we look forward to seeing you all again next year.