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  1. Recipients announced! – National Awards for Disability Leadership

    MEDIA RELEASE

    3 December 2025

    Recipients announced!

    National Awards for Disability Leadership.

    A wonderful group of 8 Recipients across 7 categories is announced today in the National Awards for Disability Leadership.

    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/

  2. DLI Members in the news – January 2025

    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

  3. DLI Members in the news – December 2024

    Caroline Bowditch – 2024 Sidney Myer Creative Fellows Announced

    Megan Spindler Smith – PWDA Welcomes National Action Plan For LGBTIQA+ Health And Wellbeing, Calls For Strong Implementation

    Shane Hryhorec – Video Podcast: The fight for disability rights on flights

    Shane Hryhorec – ‘Sky is the limit’: the untapped potential of accessible tourism in Australia

    Katie Kelly – Parker’s Paralympic Gold Leads Aussie Triathlon’s Night of Nights

    Katie Kelly – Historic Champions Jacobs and Kelly Join Triathlon’s Greatest

    Matt Warren – Awards Celebrate Victorian Work On Disability Inclusion

    Shane Hryhorec – ‘Enough is enough’, say aviation disability advocates

    Kat Reed – Our Lives,Our Voices – shaping the future through voice, power, identity and self-direction.

    Shane Hryhorec – Govt Must Ensure Disabled Airline Access, Not Airlines

    Shane Hryhorec – ‘Enough is enough’: Disability advocates call for air travel to be more accessible

    Kat Reed – DISABILITY FOUNDATIONAL WORK NEEDS COMMUNITY FUNDING

    Alastair McEwin, Megan Spindler Smith – Voice Of Our Own Online National Conference

    Megan Spindler Smith – Outback beekeeper looks to hire NDIS clients

    Emma Bennison – Meet the recipient of the Lesley Hall Lifetime Achievement Award

    Morwenna Collett – Musically able: music from composers and performers with disability connected to Sydney

    Simon Darcy – Are airlines failing in their duty of care to people with disabilities?

    Christina Ryan – Why aren’t there more disabled people in leadership roles?

    Disability Leadership Institute – Breaking barriers: Elevating disability leadership for a more inclusive future

    Kat Reed – COMMUNITY TAKES DISABILITY DAY LEAD

    Carly Findlay – “Resilience and strength”: IDPwD highlights value disabilities

    Emma Bennison, Disability Leadership Institute – SBS midday news bulletin

    Disability Leadership Institute – ABC features stories by, for, and about Australians living with disability

    Disability Leadership Institute – Enhancing disability representation in leadership

    Emma Olivier – Why we need more people with disability in leadership

    Gemma Smart – International Day of Persons with Disabilities: community and action

    Carly Findlay – Sensitivity readers: why do we need them?

    Sarah Langton – What does the future hold for the NDIS – and its participants?

    Disability Leadership Institute – Deaf defying: disability leadership as an act of resistance — with Dr Scott Avery
    The Disability Leadership Oration

    Megan Spindler Smith – PWDA Urges Gov’t to End ADEs After Rapporteur Call

    Shane Hryhorec – Traumatic reason Aussie passenger ‘will never cruise’ with MSC again

  4. DLI members in the news – August 2024

    Jane Britt – For a deafblind woman like me, the NDIS changes are a blow. I fear for my future.

    Cat Walker – ‘Last-minute homework vibes’: Inside Shorten’s NDIS reforms

    Megan Spindler Smith – An NDIS reform bill has passed through parliament, but disability advocates want it scrapped

    Mark Pietsch – SBS News

    Megan Spindler Smith – PWDA Devastated by NDIS Amendment Bill Passage

    Carol Taylor – Quadriplegic fashion designer axed from company she thought she ‘co-owned’

    Katie Kelly – The path to the Paralympics

    Disability Leadership Institute – Why employers need more data about disability in their workplace

    Debbie Heron – Appointments to the Administrative Review Tribunal and Administrative Appeals Tribunal

    Caroline Bowditch – Roadmap to Success – Learning Module 1, Finding Your Mentor

    Katie Kelly – Aspiring Olympians get help to access top level coaching

    Sarah Langston – The Deep Dive, Helping out Neurodivergent Parents through The ANPA.

    Katie Kelly – New England athletes on path to Olympics

    Lisa Stafford – Griffith awarded more than third of Future Fellowships

    Christina Ryan – The disability royal commission demanded extensive change. Are the government responses big enough?

    Megan Spindler Smith – PWDA Responds to Gov’s Disability Royal Commission Reply

    Lisa Cox – ABC, Netflix, Screen NSW and Unilever partner with Bus Stop Films for the Inaugural Driving Change Summit in November

    Shane Hryhorec – Travel blogger Shane Hryhorec helps wheelchair users to explore the world, but not without ‘challenges’

    Christina Ryan – Government reveals response to disability RC

    Akii Ngo – ‘My existence is a resistance’: Akii Ngo on non-tokenistic representation and intersectionality

    Yasmine Gray – Breaking barriers: Yasmine’s journey to revolutionise accessible tourism

  5. DLI members in the news – December 2023/January 2024

    Melissa Hale – Melissa Hale is changing the game for deaf women in cricket

    Lisa Stafford – Disabled Travellers Face Discrimination: Seeking Change and Redress

    Shane Hryhorec – Glenelg’s accessibility beach mats open 24/7 across the next two weeks

    Lisa Stafford – Travellers with disability often face discrimination. What should change and how to complain.

    Lisa Cox – Representation shouldn’t be rocket science (paywalled)

    Shane Hryhorec – Beaches that roll out welcome mat for the less mobile

    Caroline Bowditch – Alter State igniting hope through Disability Leadership

    Shane Hryhorec – Disability advocates call for government investment to improve Australian beach accessibility

    Lisa Cox – Diversity in advertising and the high fashion glass ceiling 

    Shane Hryhorec – First-ever all-inclusive & accessible membership-based gym opens in SA

    Shane Hryhorec – Australia’s first inclusive gym opens in Port Adelaide

     

    December 2023

    Megan Spindler Smith – CEO internship, a first of its kind learning experience for all

    Kate Taylor – Speed dating with an inclusive twist

    Gemma Smart – CAPA board passes motion removing SUPRA voting rights

    Frances Kupke- Smith – Beyond barriers: Advocate sheds light on the challenges at disability expo

    Christina Ryan – The Drum

    Akii Ngo – Birthday party part of the search for inclusivity

     

    Jane Britt – Things I wish I’d known before an emergency — Notes on the Brisbane floods from someone who’s deafblind

    Disability Leadership Institute – Disabled voices leading the national conversation

    Tricia Malowney – Kinetic invests in enhanced accessibility in Melbourne

    Carol Taylor – The rise of adaptive fashion

    Disability Leadership Institute, Christina Ryan – People with disability recognised for making an impact

    Disability Leadership Institute – ABC features stories for, by and about Australians living with disability

  6. DLI members in the news – August 2023

    Shane Hryhorec – Disability advocate speechless over diversity and inclusion film festival

    El Gibbs – Disability advocates launch new plan to increase home ownership among people with disabilities

    El Gibbs – Return to office push could undo gains for people with disability

    Christina Ryan – The Drum

    Lisa Cox – Future is Female Award Winners announced

    Lisa Cox – APAC unveils 2023 future is female awards shortlist

    Robert Altamore – Governor General helps Radio 1RPH celebrate 40 years

    Kat Reed – Fertility struggles can be costly and time consuming. Living with a disability can make them even harder

    Shane Hryhorec – Call for more public toilets in Port Adelaide

    Yasmine Grey – Canberra Business Chamber ACT budget lunch