Commemorative Program – Oration 2026

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 2026 Disability Leadership Orator is 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.

The Disability Leadership Institute has become a global community of disability leaders, supporting each other through a professional network and member groups. The term “disability leadership” is now used widely.

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

Christina has been acknowledged with various honours including in 2013 as one of 100 women of the Canberra Centenary, and as a finalist for 2025 ACT Australian for the Year. In 2015 she received the ACT Chief Minister’s Lifetime Achievement in Inclusion Award. She has also been a finalist in both the Telstra Business Awards and Telstra Businesswomen’s Awards.