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Develop, support, promote disability leaders

Author Archives: Christina Ryan

  1. DLI members in the news – May 2025

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    Dan Stubbs – Vision Australia podcast

    Ryan Smith – Community Reference Group criticises Pt Grey plan

    Ryan Smith – Volunteers share passion for Moreton Bay

    Matt Morrissey – From devastation to forging pathways in employment, it’s been quite a journey for this business owner

    Lisa Cox – Why disability should matter to all politicians, and every Australian

    Ryan Smith – Climate impact and power of AI among program highlights for 2025 Outdoor Industry Summit

    Cain Beckett – Cain Beckett leads carers ACT with new vision

    Lisa Cox – How my disability became a secret weapon on the dating scene

  2. DLI Members in the news – April 2025

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    Christina Ryan – ‘As critical today as it was in 1975’: a nod to the women who protect us

    Tea Rundback – Hidden Disability Sunflower Podcast

    Wendy Hill & Yenn Purkis – Changing the world with DLI CEOs

    Gemma Smart – Australian academics refuse to attend US conferences for fear of being detained

    Scott Avery, Christina Ryan, Disability Leadership Institute – Scott Avery has devoted his life to breaking down barriers for people with disability

    Gemma Smart – Remembering Khanh Tran: How Activists Won the Fight for a Disabilities Room on Campus

    Megan Spindler-Smith – PWDA Launches Election Platform to Secure Progress for People with Disability

    Meagan Shand – Interview with Meagan Shand for International Day of People with Disability 2024

    Laura Pettenuzzo – How ‘pebbling’ helping me maintain my friendships

    Vaughn Bennison – Call to make landlords recognise assistance animals as Guide Dogs’ equals

    Megan Spindler-Smith – Disability Group Warns Against NDIS Cuts

    Megan Spindler-Smith – Disability Advocates Warns Against NDIS Cuts

    Megan Spindler-Smith – PWDA: Disability Support Funding Begins, But Gaps Remain

  3. Invisible

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    A person wearing a red top is obscured by a plastic sheet covering their head and shoulders.

    By Christina Ryan DLI CEO

    Disability – out of sight, out of mind. Historically, and in many societies, disability has been stigmatised, shamed and shunned. In western cultures disabled people have been segregated into institutions, locked in back rooms and attics, so that the community could forget that we existed, and we didn’t embarrass anyone.

    This is still the case in many cultures today, where disabled people are kept hidden away in back rooms, or denied schooling or employment, and kept away from community engagement.

    Accompanying this discomfort about disability, people developed euphemisms. Words that could be used instead of the big awkward disability word. Most of these words have entered common usage and are still with us today – differently abled, special, etc.

    One of the most popular euphemisms for disability is the word inclusion. Inclusion means nothing like disability, yet it has often been used interchangeably with the word disability to mean the same thing.

    In the early part of the 21st century, disability rights activists started insisting on the use of the word disability. This insistence has since become a key plank of the disability rights and disability pride movements. Disability activists are openly disabled and proud to be who we are. We no longer accept being hidden away in back rooms or institutions, drugged and kept quiet. The fight to end such practices continues, but it is now well underway.

    More crucially this century, disability rights are now covered by an international treaty that has become one of the most supported within the international rights system.

    As part of the insistence on disability being more open and disabled people being considered part of the broader community, disability rights activists also insisted on the establishment of government policy units focussed on disability, and on having disabled people working within those units. More recently there have also been ministers for disability, though it is still rare for these ministers to be disabled people.

    Having open conversations about disability within government and having disability on the political agenda have been instrumental in outcomes like the NDIS, the National Disability Strategy, and the increasing realisation that disabled people must be part of the public discourse on disability.

    Despite these gains, it is vital that we remain vigilant. Recently, several major federal government initiatives were rebadged to remove the word disability and returned to the use of euphemisms. Specifically, that old favourite: inclusion.

    In the early part of this century the word inclusion was often used to replace the word disability and slowly but surely this meant that disability policy was sidelined and forgotten. It slid off the agenda, got wrapped up into broader policy areas, and was consigned to the outer fringes of public discourse. Using euphemisms allowed people to forget that they were working on disability. Slowly but surely, disability became invisible.

    The heavy use of euphemisms, like inclusion, two decades ago means that disabled people are now well behind other marginalised communities in reaching equality. It has taken twenty years of hard work to reclaim government and public focus, to be remembered and recentred within our own space. It has taken twenty years of hard work to support governments to get more comfortable using the word disability. To acknowledge us, to be openly working towards disability equality.

    By returning to the word inclusion, by reverting to euphemisms for disability, this hard work is now in danger of being lost. Disabled people are in danger of returning to invisibility in public policy or programs. This is unacceptable.

    Words do matter. Using the word disability matters.

  4. DLI Members in the news – March 2025

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    Christina Ryan – Building Australia’s First Disability Leadership Network

    Megan Spindler-Smith – Federal Budget week begins

    Nicole Sommer – Nation-leading right to a healthy environment takes effect in ACT

    Lauren Carter – A Conversation on Accessibility, Equity, and Inclusion at Swinburne

    Shane Hryhorec – Just the ticket: Adelaide advocate championing disability travel

    Katie Kelly – Beyond the Games podcast: supporting athletes to thrive in sport and life

    Belle Owen – Accessibility changes to national building code ‘exciting’, but disability advocates say more

    Shane Hryhorec – Government to make beaches, parks more accessible

  5. DLI Members in the news – February 2025

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    Shane Hryhorec – No more excuses in bid to boost beach access for all

    Caroline Bowditch – On the move: latest arts sector appointments

    Ryan Smith – Contributor: Ryan Smith

    Yenn Purkis – Spreading empathy through interactive training

    Katie Kelly – Mayor Tom Tate responds to fresh calls for ocean pools on the Gold Coast

    Megan Spindler-Smith – NDIS Reforms Tighten, States Abandon Disabled

    Ryan Smith – The future of accessibility is personal

    Shane Hryhorec – Aussie council’s major crackdown amid common e-bike gripe: ‘Huge issue’

    Caroline Bowditch – New works wanted: Melbourne Fringe Festival announces major commission opportunities for 2025

    Emma Bennison – Tasmanian blind woman felt ‘abandoned’ in Melbourne Airport by staff, calling for better disability support

    Emma Bennison – Statement – Jetstar and Emma Bennison

    Emma Bennison – Jetstar to improve passenger service after blind passenger left stranded in airport lounge

    Emma Bennison – Discusses recent experience with Jetstar

    Christina Ryan – Australia’s Leaders Unite to Launch International Women’s Month with UN Women Australia

    Christina Ryan – Albanese and Dutton speak on gender equality ahead of International Women’s Day

    Megan Spindler-Smith – PWDA condemns QLD Govt’s Trans Health Ban

    Heidi La Paglia – NAS – ABC Drive Hobart Radio

    Emma Bennison – Festivale, artificial intelligence applications

    Lisa Cox – QUT Community Recognised with National Honours

  6. DLI Members in the news – January 2025

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    Yasmine Gray – 10+ ways to welcome the Year of the Snake in Canberra

    Briar Harte – How intersectionality impacts people with a disability – and what we can do about it

    Lisa Cox – Australia Day Honours awarded

    Christina Ryan – Gold Coast Disability Expo’s post

    Heidi La Paglia Reid – Questions remain over how a national first strategy will work in Tasmania

    Megan Spindler Smith – Concerns new autism plan may overlook children who need help

    Megan Spindler Smith – Disability experts are cautious of the recently announced National Autism Strategy

    Megan Spindler Smith – Worries autism plan may overlook children who need help

    Megan Spindler Smith – Australia Just Got Its First National Autism Strategy, Here’s What It Means

    Megan Spindler Smith – Autism Strategy Welcomed, Success Hinges on Funding

    Ebe Ganon – AUDIO: Advocates champion ‘historic’ national autism strategy

    Vaughn Bennison – Australian government expands disability representation with NDIA appointments

    Megan Spindler Smith – NDIS access fails at first financial hurdle for families with disability

    Vaughn Bennison – Bill Shorten will leave the NDIS in the hands of people with disability

    Megan Spindler Smith – Illawarra man’s death highlights ‘profound human rights violation’

    Claudia Forsberg – Support services see cost-of-living crisis driving Christmas stress

    Megan Spindler Smith – Eliminating Restrictive Practices In Australia