Working together towards inclusion.

December 3rd is International Day of People with Disability. The 2023 theme for IDPwD asks everyone to work together to make the world better and fairer for people with disability.

In the lead up to IDPwD , I joined a panel talking ‘Designing for Accessibility - Creating inclusive people focused experiences' hosted by Brisbane City Council employee network for People with Disability and Allies, BrisAbilty and Council’s Access & Inclusion team.

Our conversation centred on how projects and services are designed for accessibility, harnessing improvements and staying on track.

In 2019, Brisbane City hosted and provided support to the INAS Global Games (now the Virtus Games). This was an opportunity for Council to understand how they could deliver a better Brisbane to residents and visitors with a lived experience of intellectual impairment. I was delighted to work in the role responsible for leading the delivery of INAS Games legacy projects for Council.    

The invite to join the panel had me revisiting these projects.

It was a very satisfying trip down memory lane!   

Some projects provided an opportunity to deliver demonstration projects on accessible information sharing with an Easy Read Athletes Guide to Brisbane and INAS Corporate Webpage – Easy Read version.

To deliver The William Jolly Bridge Projection, procurement practices were improved and made more inclusive for the artist with a lived experience of a learning disability with autism. The project reflected the global inclusion trend #ofbyfor. Artwork OF the community, BY the community, FOR the community.

Others like the INAS Employment project helped me to understand how to do inclusive job design better for a person living with an intellectual impairment. 

And there were these two projects where our next generation of inclusive leaders collaborated, partnered and learnt from intellectual impairment lived experience experts.   

The Lord Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council (LMYAC)  Sports Inclusion Workshop with 60 year 10 students, including for the first time a student living with an intellectual impairment. The workshop included a Q&A session with Games CEO Robyn Smith OAM and athletes living with intellectual impairment.   The students were challenged to submit their big idea for “How can sport be used to create a more inclusive society?” with four students chosen to present their ideas to experts in the field of sports inclusion at the Games Sports Summit alongside Taylor Corry, Australian S14 Paralympics silver medal swimmer and Logan Whittaker, in his role of National Inclusion Manager at the AFL. The panel facilitator was Stephen Frost who led the inclusion programs for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games as Head of Diversity and Inclusion for the London Organising Committee.

I have often wondered how this experience shaped the presenting students future choices.  

And this one, the INAS 2019 Collaborative Public Art Piece where students from Calamvale Special School and All Hallows School participated in an all abilities art workshop facilitated by local artist Sarge Jhorgenson and together designed a mural celebrating the place of sport in their lives and how being involved in sport contributes to them feeling included, connected and successful. Joining in the workshop was internationally recognised street artist Sofles ( Russell Fenn ) who created the pubic art piece. 

All these projects involved officers across Council working together with a commitment to accessible service delivery and inclusive experience. Almost five years down the track, I am grateful for the opportunity I had to work in this space and with these dedicated and inclusive committed people. This experience continues to shape my approach to inclusive and diverse practice.