me in action

Ran a webinar for Lived Experience Australia about how to get started as a lived experience professional. I explored:

- What is my lived experience?
- So what does being a ‘Lived Experience Professional’ mean?
- Navigating your own lived experience in non-lived experience employment
- How to understand your own story and how to tell it
- The difficulties of working in a field defined by your identities/oppression
- Burnout and keeping yourself safe
- What getting started can look like…

I MC'ed a session that explored: People and politics seem more divided than ever. How can we empower diverse young people to participate in and build a more connected society?

Reshape Our Future was a 2-day youth sector conference, presented by Youth Affairs Council Victoria, the peak body for young people and the youth sector in Victoria, from 11 – 12 August 2021. Today’s generation of young people are facing uncertainty, inequity and unprecedented challenges. We need to take action now and Reshape Our Future.

Featured in a video by the Disability Advocacy Resource Unit about What Inclusion Means to Me. Some of this video was used in DARU's submission to the Disability Royal Commission. 

I am on the show to discuss my experience as a disabled and queer young person, and also my involvement the recent national report that was conducted by the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University, called Writing Themselves In 4, as a study participant.

In this episode of the Inform podcast, we hear from artist and disability culture activist, Larissa MacFarlane and myself who works for a youth disability organisation. We share the story of their path to disability pride and what disability pride means to them.

I was interviewed by the ABC about my experiences as an autistic person during COVID-19 lockdowns as part of my participation in research into that topic. This was turned into an article and an ABC News Piece.

I spoke on this panel about transitioning young people into meaningful employment from my perspective as a young disabled trans person, but also someone working in the disability sector. This recording is part of a week-long virtual Youth Futures Summit held from the 24-28 August 2020, and presented by the National Youth Commission Australia. A full transcript is available here: https://nycinquiry.org.au/wp-content/...

In a response to an episode of ABC's Q&A which talked about young people without having any young people on the panel, NYCA created their response, one with only young people (including me).

COVID-19 is on everyone’s minds right now. The pandemic is throwing our lives into chaos and our futures. Young people, in particular, have been hard hit by job losses, disruption to education, lack of sufficient government support, increased mental health challenges and more. 

So how will young people fair after COVID-19? What do we need to do now to prepare for this future? And how can we create a better world for them to thrive in work and life?