Celebrating our 2024 September LeadAbility Graduation

Congratulations to our September LeadAbility cohort, who graduated on Monday 9 December 2024.

Their final Experience Day was action-packed, as participants focussed on their final personal development activities, including personal brand and how to go forward, putting their best foot forward. They then presented their Community Projects, which they’d been working on in groups across the 3-month Course.

The Community Projects are initiatives aimed at positively impacting the lives of people with disability:

• How Do I Health? | An intuitive, easy to use website and/or app-based tool, designed to assist people from diverse backgrounds and abilities to access healthcare services and providing additional easy-to-read health information
• Career Compass | Empowering individuals with disabilities by providing them with the tools, resources and guidance necessary to secure meaningful employment. To help job seekers recognise their unique strengths and advocate for their rights and accommodations within the workplace.
• Auslan Link | A set of visual resources and learning tools, including videoes, to bridge the Auslan Education gap, designed to encourage workplaces and the wider community to grow their deaf awareness and learn more about the language of Auslan.

A huge thank you to our valued Mentors, who generously gave their time to support their group through the ideation, creation and development of their Community Project. We gratefully acknowledge our 2024 September LeadAbility Mentors:

Nihal Iscel (Rising 2013), SML Coordinator, Ethnic Communities Council of WA, David Carrington (Rising 2015), Project Manager, Department of Communities and Leah Doherty (Signature 2014), Project Manager, Department of Justice.

Sarah Savill, Program Officer, Department of Health (WA Health), was elected as the cohort’s Valedictorian. Sarah, who delivered a moving speech on the impact of the Course, said her biggest takeaway was about being more mindful of herself and the people around her.

“The Joharia Window concept is firmly embedded in my brain as a reminder to consider the whys of a situation and to compassionately explore it with the other people involved.”

We are delighted to welcome our newest graduates to the growing Community of Practice.

Thank you to the Department of Communities WA (Disability Services) for generously supporting the LeadAbility Course since its inception.

To learn more about the powerful impact of LeadAbility or to apply for 2025, we invite you to discover more here.