Disability Leadership Institute

The Recipients illustrate the incredible expertise and approach undertaken by disabled people in pursuing equality and recognition for our community. see full list with bios

Deserved recognition for Damian Griffis, Recipient of the Lesley Hall Award for Lifetime Achievement. Damian is the CEO of First Peoples Disability Network and has committed countless hours to both First Nations and disability communities. He is respected and loved by many as he continues to work to ensure that First Nations disabled people are part of building the solutions and have the supports they require. Damian has been instrumental in building internal structures at the NDIS amongst many other important bodies of work over many years.

These Awards reflect what is important to disabled people and the ways that we are effecting change and pursuing equality for our community. They recognise outstanding achievements by individuals and organisations who have significantly contributed to advancing the status of disabled people.

The Awards are delivered across seven categories for outstanding achievement or outcomes by disabled people, reflecting the diversity of our community, and the intersectional nature of our lives, including The Arts, Change Making, Rights Activism, Innovation, Social Impact, Inclusion (for intersectional work), and the Lesley Hall Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The National Awards for Disability Leadership are owned and run solely by disabled people (following the federal government stepping back in 2018), all nominees are disabled people and all those associated with the Awards are disabled people.

Summary

Lesley Hall Award for Lifetime Achievement

Damian Griffis

Rights Activism

Sarah Langston

Inclusion (for operating intersectionally)

George Ayoub

Innovation

Karen Hedley

Social Impact

Danielle Kutchel

Change Making

Clare Gibellini
Wayne Herbert

Arts

Fi Peel

#DisabilityAwards2025

https://disabilityleaders.com.au/disability-leaders/national-awards/

DLI members in the news November 2025

26 November 2025 10:13 am Leave a Comment

Elizabeth Robinson – Researchers discuss frailty, home care for reduced hospitalisation

Disability Leadership Institute – Australians tell their stories for International Day of People with Disability

Tim Harte – How a ballet dancer became a Young Australian of the Year finalist

Elizabeth Robinson – Research: In-home care models linked to reduced hospitalisation and emergency visits

Anna Boucher – Can a fair and productive workplace exist?

Colleen Furlanetto – Driver Reviver program impacted on Australian road safety

Rosie Putland – Rosie Putland’s Modality Co breaking digital barriers nationwide

Bree Hadley – Disability Arts History Australia website launched

Anna Boucher – Holiday workers propping up key sectors exposed to serious workplace injuries

Karen Hedley – Over 50s must rethink COVID to know they can get seriously ill

Natalie Terry-Bedwell – Capalaba gym wins state award for creating inclusive community hub

Christina Ryan – Everything you need to know about the 2025 Australian of the Year nominees

Finalists Announced! – National Awards for Disability Leadership 2025

17 November 2025 10:00 am Leave a Comment

An outstanding field of 22 Finalists across 7 categories is announced today in the leadup to the National Awards for Disability Leadership. Recipients will be announced on 3 December 2025, International Day for People with Disabilities.

The finalists illustrate the breadth of work undertaken by disabled people in pursuing equality and recognition for disabled people. (see full list with bios)

The 2025 finalists feature an Easy Read specialist, a deaf storyteller, a young First Nations woman making change at the United Nations, a journalist, a respected multicultural communities pioneer, a regional Australia change maker, LGBTIQA+ activists, a prominent autism advocate, rights activists across a range of fields including education and dance, the founder of a parents advocacy organisation, and a First Nations leaders, amongst others.

The Awards will be delivered across seven categories for outstanding achievement or outcomes by disabled people, reflecting the diversity of our community, and the intersectional nature of our lives, including The Arts, Change Making, Rights Activism, Innovation, Social Impact, Inclusion (for intersectional work), and the Lesley Hall Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Summary

Lesley Hall Award for Lifetime Achievement

Damian Griffis
Jarrod Sandell-Hay

Rights Activism

Nabila Laska
Sarah Langston
Tahlia-Rose Vanissum

Inclusion

Chloe Rattray
George Ayoub
Tahlia-Rose Vanissum

Innovation

Linda Tuxford-Adams
Karen Hedley
Aaron Green

Social Impact

Purple Orange Podcast
Laura Pettenuzzo
Danielle Kutchel

Change Making

Clare Gibellini
Rebecca McCash
Wayne Herbert
Jenny Smith
Tessa Deak

Arts

Fi Peel
Ramas McRae
Kathie Elliott-Scott

#DisabilityAwards2025

Staying

29 October 2025 1:37 pm Leave a Comment

Staying

Moving to a new job is high risk

by Christina Ryan DLI CEO

The decision to apply for a new job and progress your career is an exciting one. Recognising that it’s time to stretch yourself into a bigger skill set and explore new fields and ways of doing things, should be something everyone experiences.

What happens when it’s too much to contemplate? When progressing your career or changing jobs, for whatever reason, is something that fills you with trepidation and exhaustion?

Starting a new job is a major event for any person, but for disability leaders it can be particularly complex. For those who require adjustments, including flexible arrangements, it can also be a time of apprehension and doubt.

Recent discussions with disability leaders have pointed to a common concern; changing jobs means leaving the arrangements already in place and starting all over again. Repeating the long labour of being granted hard won adjustments or flexibility, and the even longer labour of educating your colleagues about specific measures you might need – like captions in meetings, larger font emails, or quiet zones and muted lighting – so that you can do your job effectively.

Disability leaders talk about wanting to change jobs, yet to change jobs is to risk losing the mechanisms that have been put in place, and which may have taken months or years to establish.

Additionally, changing jobs also means moving further into the unknown and potentially experiencing unsafe conditions in the new position. It is a high risk business, and the more senior the disability leader the greater the risk. Few senior disability leaders are open about their disabilities, and a move is a big gamble that can be career ending if the new workplace isn’t supportive.

Being open in one workplace doesn’t mean it’s safe to be open in the next workplace, but once that door has been opened there is no going back.

Moving jobs means revisiting the need to build trust, the emotional labour of educating colleagues about disability and about your disability specifically, and it can also mean enduring quite intrusive questions and an expectation that you must explain your personal circumstances and justify why you need solutions that are different to what is currently available.

In recent conversations, a number of disability leaders have shared their decision that now is not the time to dive into this uncertainty, and they have made the difficult choice to stay in a position that is limiting their career advancement. They know it will take substantial time and energy to go through a transition process, on top of the usual shifts in routine that a new job presents to everyone. That level of effort is only possible when there are no other major challenges going on, and for many disability leaders there are often other major challenges going on.

Disability leaders are faced with two stark alternatives: take the big risk to follow your career and hope your vital workplace arrangements can be locked in without too much effort or stick with what you know even though it might be career limiting.

Thanks to the many DLI members who shared thoughts and experiences for this article.

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Christina Ryan is the CEO of the Disability Leadership Institute, which provides professional development and support for disability leaders. She identifies as a disabled person