Summary

• The event 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.
• This means lots of people with disability miss out on seeing doctors, taking shifts at work or seeing friends because they cannot use transport. 
• Everyone agreed transport needs to be more fair and safer to use.
• Then there was a 10 minute break. 
• After the break, we were joined by 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.
• Then we had an open discussion with questions from the audience about transport with all of our panellists.

Resources

Learn more about Lisa’s work here.

About our panelists

Todd Winther
Todd is a disability advocate who lives with cerebral palsy. He cares about politics and disability rights. He hopes his experiences helps others feel like they can advocate for disability rights, too.

Emma Myers
Emma is a writer, actor and disability advocate who lives in Canberra. She is the first Disability Rights and Political Reporter at Powerd, where she works. She cares about sharing stories of people with disability through the media.

Jared Simkus
Jared is employed by Speakout as a community educator currently working on a new project called Respect our Ability. Jared is also currently participating in a reference group for a National/International transport company. Jared’s only mode of transport is public transport. Jared enjoys attending monthly Self advocacy group meetings and has previously delivered road to success training and been part of voice-overs created by Speakout.

Quang Nguyen
Quang is the Chairperson for Council for Intellectual Disability and has been recently been on the Disability Council at ATAC (Accessible Transport Advisory Committee). He was a part of the trial runs when the new SouthWest Link train replacement buses were being rolled out during the new metro train upgrades.

Dr Lisa Stafford
A passionate leader and advocate for inclusive communities, cities and fair transport. She has over 25 years of experience in research, education, and community planning. She drives change by bringing together disability inclusion, urban planning and transport. Lisa is also dedicated to using inclusive methods that ensure everyone’s voices, especially children and those with complex communication needs, are heard in research and planning. Read more here.

And our host, Elly Desmarchelier

Elly is a sought after speaker, writer, event facilitator and disability rights campaigner. You might recognise her as the national spokesperson for the Defend Our NDIS campaign during the 2022 Federal election. You can check out some of her work here.