The Disability Dialogue

On the 25 March 2026, The Disability Dialogue had an Open Dialogue event called, ‘Friendship, relationship and intimacy for people with disability’ The event was hosted by Jax Brown, who is a disability and LGBTQIA+ rights activist, writer and educator, and Madeleine Gay, who is a policy and research officer at Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) Event guest speakers included Daniel Johnston, a man supported by Life Without Barriers and Isabella Choate (Ch-oat), who is multi-award-winning Living Experience Advocate, passionate about community building and platforming the voices of young people with disability.  The event begins with Jax Brown welcoming the online audience to the open dialogue event. This episode was produced by the Disability Dialogue in 2026

On the 25 February 2026, The Disability Dialogue kicked off its first Open Dialogue event called,1 ‘Navigating high school, TAFE and university as a disabled young person’. This Open Dialogue event was about equal education for teenagers and young adults with disability, specifically, those navigating high school, TAFE and university as a disabled young person.  The event was hosted by Kiz Blanca-Jackson, who is a community organiser and disability rights advocate, and Sophie Geeves, who is a disability advocate and C.P. Active Champion. Event guest speakers included Madeleine Gay from Children and Young People with Disability (CYDA), Brooke Canham from Inclusion Australia, and Ryan Rowland from Up the Hill, a program that supports people with intellectual disability. The event begins with co-host Kiz Blanca-Jackson welcoming the online audience to the Open Dialogue event. This episode was produced by the Disability Dialogue in 2026.

The Disability Dialogue, Open Dialogues: What happened in 2025 for people with disability, a year in review. This Open Dialogue event was held on Wednesday 26th November 2025. This event was about some of the biggest things that happened this year for people with disability and their community.    It was hosted by Todd Winther, who is a policy expert in the disability sector, and Kelly Treloar, who is a disability advocate and works with the Disability Dialogue. They both are people with disability. Todd and Kelly began by sharing results from the optional pre-event survey. The survey asked participants how they felt 2025 was for the disability community. Most people said it was a mix of good and bad. The first speaker was Nas Campanella who is ABC’s National Disability Affairs Reporter. Nas talked about the major stories she worked on this year, including challenges with the NDIS, the Thriving Kids Program, and positive stories like Deaf playgroups for children,   Nas also spoke about writing her new fully accessible picture book for children. The second speaker was Natalie Wade, Associate Commissioner at the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission. Natalie spoke about her role, what it’s like being a person with disability in a position of senior leadership, and some of the big projects she worked on in 2025, including the commission’s first Disability Action Plan. After a short break, we heard from Carly Wallace who is the Director of the Disability Dialogue. Carly talked about what’s next for the Dialogue, including the first ever Feature Dialogue called “Our Future Foundations” which will explore foundational supports. She encouraged people to join the paid focus groups. Carly also announced the topics for next year’s Open Dialogues, including education, relationships, intimacy, ableism, and experiences of the criminal justice system.  The event closed with a Q&A with Carly. She answered questions about future Feature Dialogues, how people can stay updated, and shared her highlight of 2025. The event closed with an invitation to register for the first Open Dialogue of 2026. This episode was produced by Powered Media and Vision Australia for The Disability Dialogue in 2025.

The Disability Dialogue, Open Dialogue event: AI is here and it’s changing the way we live, work and connect.  This Open Dialogue event was held on Wednesday 22nd October 2025.  The event started with Carly Wallace, Director of the Disability Dialogue, welcoming everyone to the event. Kelly Griffis-Cox, who is part of the Disability Dialogue team, and Sam Mouakkassa, who works for the Victorian Advocacy League for Individuals with Disability (VALiD), co-hosted the event. The first speaker was Sisaleo Philavong. Sisaleo works at the Multicultural Communities Council of South Australia. He supports people with disability and people from different cultural and language backgrounds. He talked about how he uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) in his workplace, including to translate words and audio so people who speak different languages can understand each other. The next speakers were Zac Colton and Jon Paior. Zac has an intellectual disability and is an Ambassador for the Make it Easy app. Jon works in Information Technology and is an expert in cyber security and privacy. He is also autistic and a parent of a neurodivergent child. Zac and Jon talked about how Apps can use artificial intelligence to make the world around us easier to understand. It can help people follow instructions, like how to cook a recipe or read a menu. They also talked about how to stay safe when using artificial intelligence, and reminded everyone that artificial intelligence is not a real person. The event ended with all the speakers taking questions from the audience, and with an invitation to the next Open Dialogue, which is the last one of the year. This episode was produced by Powered Media and Vision Australia for The Disability Dialogue in 2025

The Disability Dialogue, Open Dialogue event 2025: Facing the storm together: How we plan and respond to weather-related disasters This Open Dialogue event was held on Wednesday 24th September 2025.  Kelly Griffis-Cox and Andrew Fairbairn, who works for an organisation called Limbs for Life, co-hosted the event.  The first speakers were Jonathon Tracey, who goes by Jono, and Anthony. Jono shared his story about how he kept himself and his family safe during the Lismore floods of 2022. He took on the responsibility of bringing his family to safety and was in an evacuation centre for 2 weeks. The next speaker would have been Nelly Caleb from Vanuatu, but she was not able to make the event. Instead Andrew shared a bit about Nelly and invited everyone to listen to a podcast where she talks about her work. You can listen here. Then Joseph Archibald spoke. He is a service provider for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. He talked about what he has learned about keeping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people safe, like making sure plans are person-centred and considering things like culture, history, and the relationship people have with emergency services. The event ended with all the speakers taking questions from the audience, and with an invitation to the next Open Dialogue event on artificial intelligence. This episode was produced by Powered Media and Vision Australia for The Disability Dialogue in 2025.  

The Disability Dialogue, Open Dialogue event 2025: Unlocking potential, support for children with disability This Open Dialogue event was held on Monday 25 August 2025. This event was about targeted foundational supports for children, which are supports for children who are not part of the NDIS. We wanted to know what good support looks like for children, their families and their supporters. The event was hosted by Todd Winther, who is a policy expert in the disability sector,  and Sara Gingold who is a writer. They both are people with disability. Todd and Sara briefly talked about the recent Federal Government announcement about the Thriving Kids Program, which is a program to support children with mild to moderate developmental delay and autism, but we still don’t know how the program will be rolled out. We also heard from Gretchen Young from SNAICC, which stands for Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care. SNAICC is the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.  Gretchen talked about the need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have access to culturally safe support. Culturally safe support means people feel safe, respected and feel like they belong to a community based on shared ideas.  Then we heard from Akii Ngo, who shared their experience growing up without any support. They spoke about stigma and lack of understanding within their culture. They talked about the importance of sharing experiences, even when they are traumatic, if it helps others have the knowledge they need to get the right support. They talked about how important it is to have community. They speak up for themselves because they feel safe and supported. The event closed with an invitation to the audience about the next Open Dialogue about how people with disability can prepare and stay safe during weather-related disasters.   *TRIGGER WARNING* This recording contains a discussion that touches on self-harm and spousal abuse at the one hour mark (around 1:05:00). Listener discretion is advised and for support you visit beyondblue.org.au or call Lifeline on 13 11 14. This episode was produced by Powered Media and Vision Australia for The Disability Dialogue in 2025

The Disability Dialogue, Open Dialogue event 2025: Foundations for a good life. This Open Dialogue event was held on Wednesday 30th July 2026. The event talked about General Foundational Supports which are supports outside of the NDIS.   The hosts Sara and Todd presented a model of three “buckets” of support: mainstream services, the NDIS, and Foundational Supports. Each of these supports are different, but they all help people live a better life.   Catherine McAlpine from Inclusion Australia talked with Sonia Hume, a self-advocate and member of Speak Out. Sonia shared her 20-year journey of gaining confidence and skills through her involvement with Speak Out, an organisation that provides information, advocacy, and support.   Her journey began with getting individual advocacy help for a legal issue and progressed to attending and speaking at conferences and self-advocacy groups. Sonia’s story showed that building confidence and skills takes time.   Todd then interviewed Katrina who has worked with VALID and they discussed how you make decisions and the importance of having clear information and talking with family and friends.   Finding people in similar situations, often through peer support, was also discussed.   The event made the confusing topic of Foundational Supports clearer

The Disability Dialogue, Open Dialogue event 2025: Connecting to community, peer support The event started by explaining what peer support means: it is about people who have similar lived experiences connecting and sharing with each other. We then discussed the benefits of peer support including emotional support, building confidence, sharing information, and creating a sense of belonging. Guest speakers Rose-Ann and Romeo shared a great conversation about their work with Positive Powerful Parents (PPP). PPP is a self-advocacy group run by, and for, parents with intellectual disability that provides peer support.  We heard a presentation from Dr Qian Fang about her work researching people from diverse backgrounds. Dr Qiang Fang also had a conversation with David Yang about his peer support work in the Chinese community. They talked about the language and cultural barriers in accessing support. This episode was produced by Powered Media and Vision Australia for The Disability Dialogue in 2025  

The Disability Dialogue, Open Dialogue event 2025- Connecting to Community with Safe and Accessible Transport This Disability Dialogue event was held on Friday 16th May 2025. The even started with a panel discussion between the host Elly Desmarchelier and panellists Todd Wither, Emma Myers and Jared Simkus. They are all people with disability who shared their ideas on safe and accessible transport. Then we heard from Dr Lisa Stafford who is an expert in accessible transport. She talked about her research about transport for people with disability and why It’s important for people with disability to be able to use transport. Lisa said lots of people with disability think transport is difficult to use. Then we heard from Quang Ngyuen, and Noah, his support person. Noah talked about Quang’s role on the Accessible Transport Advisory Committee and how he helps make transport more accessible for his community. To finish the event, there was an open discussion with questions from the audience about transport with all of our panellists. This episode was produced by Powered Media and Vision Australia for The Disability Dialogue in 2025.

The Disability Dialogue, Open Dialogue event: 'Belonging: Making Friends, Building Community'. This Disability Dialogue event was held on Wednesday 16th April 2025. The event started with a panel discussion on friendship with Todd Winther, Emma Myers and Elly Desmarchelier. Then Sally Robinson and Tim Cahalan shared their research about people with disability and loneliness. The research told us what made people feel like they belonged and what didn’t. They also shared advice about how to make sure people feel included. To finish the event, Saranna Schultz and Megan Lampa talked about how they became friends through a leadership program for young people with cerebral palsy. This episode was produced by Powered Media and Vision Australia for The Disability Dialogue in 2025