Develop, support, promote disability leaders
Menu
Menu
The Disability Leadership Oration is held each year to lead the discussion on disability leadership and set the national agenda. A thought provoking 45 minute talk that puts disability leadership into the centre of things and sparks conversation.
Centred on IDay in December (International Day of People with Disabilities), the Oration is a destination annual event for the calendars of the broader disability community, business and government leaders, and anyone interested in thought leadership and equality.
Each year a prominent disability leader shares their perspective on disability leadership, where it is going and what it looks like. Taking a broad view, they will outline the way forward and consider what needs to be done and who should be part of making progress happen. The 2025 Disability Leadership Orator is Dwayne Fernandes.
Dwayne Fernandes is a determined individual who has overcome adversity to achieve great things. Dwayne has set his sights on becoming the first double amputee in space and is on his way to achieve it by being an AstroAccess Flight 2 Ambassador.
AstroAccess is dedicated to advancing disability inclusion in space exploration for the benefit of humankind. AstroAccess believes that if we can make space accessible, we can make any space accessible. More information is available at astroaccess.org
Dwayne believes that with resilient minds and inclusive hearts, we can forge an accessible future!
Dwayne is an Indian-Born Australian double amputee who was recently diagnosed with ADHD. In addition to space travel, Dwayne works to deliver accessibility outcomes through his consulting company, IDEA Services. Dwayne is also the co-founder of Minds at Play, a national social gaming company that helps players build essential social and communication skills through games like Dungeons and Dragons and Minecraft. Under Dwayne’s leadership, the company has grown from 4 players in June 2022 to over 600+ players from every state and time zone in Australia. In his free time, Dwayne enjoys innovating, traveling, dancing, and setting world records in stair climbing, including at the Empire State Building in New York.
The Disability Leadership Institute gratefully acknowledges our sponsors, The Achieve Foundation, without whom this major event would not happen.
The Disability Leadership Institute also acknowledges our broadcast partners the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The ABC is supported by The Australian Government for its IDay programming.
